A race for love
by WisteriaBlossom1992
Summary: The sequel of "Jar of Hearts". Draco had to leave to protect her. Now, Hermione is dealing with the consequences of his depart.Disturbing dreams have convinced her to find him again, and quick, if she wants to save their love.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hey everyone!**

**So, here it is, the first chapter of the sequel of "Jar of Hearts".**

**I want to add totalhpfan347 to my list of thank you's of "Jar of Hearts, thank you for your nice review! :)**

** I hope you'll enjoy the first chapter :).**

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><p><strong>A race for love<br>**

**Chapter one**

Over the past weeks it had seemed as if England had suddenly moved to the middle of the desert. For a long heat wave was sweeping across the country.

It made flower beds wither and sent the roots of the trees desperately searching for a drop of water.

It was a warm, calm evening in July and the moon was climbing high in the midnight sky. Crickets were chirping peacefully in the lawns and now and then you could hear a lonely owl's cry.

In a nice, clean neighbourhood in London one single car drove by and here and there you could see the flashing images of a television. But most of the inhabitants were already asleep for curtains had been pulled across the windows.

Almost every single bedroom window was open in an attempt to cool down the boiling temperature inside.

Everything seemed quiet with people slumbering deep.

But there was one particular house in which this wasn't the case.

A girl was tossing and turning in her bed; her eyelids were fluttering and her head was moving restlessly. Her forehead was creased and covered with little drops of sweat. But that wasn't a result of the heat.

No, Hermione Granger was stuck in a terrible nightmare.

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><p><em>It was dark and a white fog came rolling in from the evergreen trees surrounding her. Hermione knew that she was standing in the middle of a forest; she had been here before, several times. She wrapped her arms around her when a cold breeze swept by.<em>

_Peering in front of her she could just see the outlines of a small path. But through the thick fog it was impossible to see where the trail was going. _

_Hermione gathered her courage and started walking, wondering where her feet would carry her. _

_Even though she had followed this path previous times, at this moment she always forgot what happened next. _

_She kept walking and walking and sounds started to fill up the night; a clattering stream, a small breeze moving the branches of the trees. _

_Then as quick as it had come the fog went away; Hermione frowned: now that was a new twist on the dream._

_She looked around and her eye caught a flickering yellow- orange glow. She set her jaw and searched for the source of the light. _

_Soon, she found herself standing in a clearing and noticed that the glow was caused by a burning fire. Its flames were reaching very high; it seemed as if they were licking the evening sky._

_ A tent was set up next to it and Hermione decided to take a closer look. _

_She froze when the tent flap opened and a person stepped out of it. She squinted her eyes and when she saw the boy's face she put her hand to her mouth to suppress a gasp. _

_Draco Malfoy was sitting beside the fire, warming his hands. _

_Hermione couldn't believe it! It really was him!_

_A smile appeared on her face and all the fear that had been in her heart before melted away by joy. _

_She ran towards Draco and looked at him from across the fire. Her eyes widened when she saw his face more clearly; his cheeks had fallen in a little bit and there were dark circles underneath his eyes. He looked tired; as if he hadn't been sleeping for days. _

_His grey shirt was dirty, but still accentuated his eyes, and the hems of his faded blue jeans were frayed. He must have been out here for weeks. But to her he still looked handsome; she had never seen him in Muggle wear and she had to say that the outfit suited him well._

_Hermione stepped forward and laid her hand on his cheek. But just inches before it could touch his face her hand came to a hold. _

_She tried it again, but still she couldn't touch him; it was as if a small, invisible barrier or energy had popped up out of nowhere and had placed itself between them. She couldn't touch him and clearly he couldn't see her._

_Hermione opened her mouth to say his name but no sound came over her lips. She tried again, but alas, again no sound could be heard. _

_Well, at least she was glad to see him alive and well; if it was real. Maybe it just was nothing more but a dream._

_It didn't feel like one though. And Hermione couldn't ignore how happy it made her feel._

_How wonderful it was to see his face again!_

_She seated herself next to him, still hoping that at some point he would be aware of her presence._

_As if her prayers had been answered she saw him twitch and he looked straight at her with a frown on his face. Hermione felt her cheeks burning under the intensity of his stare. But then Draco just shook his head and focused back on the fire. _

_He really couldn't see her could he? Her own eyes travelled to the flames but she looked back at him when he mumbled something:_

'_I really thought she was here, but that's impossible.'_

_A spark of hope shot through her heart and she moved a little closer to him. Again he looked in her direction:_

'_Hermione? Are you here?' He asked doubtfully. _

_She wanted to yell out that yes indeed she was here, but again the sound of her voice did not travel through the air. _

_All of a sudden the fire died, the smoke of its smouldering ambers filled the air like pale white ghosts. She could hear Draco hold his breath and a terrible high- pitched voice sounded from behind them:_

'_Have a second guess dear nephew…'_

_At the same time as Draco, Hermione flung her head around; Bellatrix was standing on the left side of the tent and behind her black clouds shot from the sky to the ground. Before she realised it Draco was surrounded by other Death Eaters. Hermione started panicking and tried to get Draco to stand up and run._

_ He must have felt something for he immediately got up and raced towards the forest, leaving everything behind. He ran as if his life depended on it, which was probably the case, and she tried hard to keep up. _

_Bramble bushes scratched his face and shins, his breathing became heavier and heavier with the second. Draco started to slow down and came to a hold; completely out of breath. But then the insane cackling laughter filled up the forest and he started running again. _

_The Death Eaters didn't give up the chase but got bored and started to fire spell after spell at Draco's back. All of them nearly missed until a red, paralysing beam shot straight through his right arm. He yelped and fell down upon the forest floor. Voldmort's followers slowed down their pace to what could have been a relaxing jog. _

_They came closer and closer and eventually they were standing around Draco in a small circle._

_ A wicked smirk appeared on Bellatrix's face and with a satisfying nod she said:_

'_it looks as if we finally got him, the Dark Lord will be pleased.'_

_At hearing that name the hairs of Hermione's neck stood up; she had to do something, she couldn't let Draco be captured by them.'_

_She put one foot forward but right at that moment it felt as if she was being pulled away. _

'_O no!' She was waking up! _

_No, not now!_

_But Hermione left the scene in the woods and the last thing she heard was a loud laughter rising up from the Death Eaters while Bellatrix, smiling satisfactory, looked down at Draco. _

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><p>Hermione woke up with a loud scream. She shot up in her bed; tears streaming down her face, her heart pounding in her chest. Her breathing sounded heavy in her moonlit bedroom.<p>

Hermione tried to control her gasping breaths and pushed her face in her hands, wiping the tears and loose strands of hair away.

A horrible, sad feeling went through her and she started to cry a little harder when an image of Draco lying on the earth flashed through her mind.

Over the past four months horrifying dreams and thoughts involving Draco had been haunting her. Each time she closed her eyes they had become worse and worse.

They had started ever since Draco had left Hogwarts to protect her from Voldemort. Since Draco hadn't wanted to fulfil an assignment given by _him, _Voldemort had taken the decision to kill Draco for his betrayal. He wouldn't stop until he had finished him off.

Her boyfriend had thought it was better to leave her side, so the Dark Lord would only focus on him and not her.

The goodbye had been dreadful and Hermione remembered nothing from the weeks following his depart. Her mind had been blank and she had been walking around the school like a zombie.

Then one day, the emotions had broken through the surface, followed by long nights of crying her heart out.

Her friends didn't understand how she could be in love with someone she once hated and in trying to comfort her had told her to try and forget him.

But how could she when these dreams came to her every single night?

How could she when every time she closed her eyes images of Draco's face kept flashing by?

How could she when at this very moment the person she loved the most could be chased down like a wild animal, until the predators caught him with their claws and killed him.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Hey everyone :).**

**So, here is chapter two of the sequel.**

**I really hope you're already like the sequel :).**

**And please, feel free to review :).**

**Enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Chapter two<strong>

After the nightmare Hermione found it impossible to fall sleep again.

Why even try to when every single one of her slumbers brought another terrible image to mind? An image of Draco lying on the ground and being hold in place with magical ropes, entwining his every limb.

The dreams hadn't been that terrible before, they had been awful but not to the extreme. Even more important: they hadn't seemed realistic. In her previous dreams she had seen everything from a distance instead of being thrown right in the middle of it.

Yes, this last dream had been the worst one so far and had left her restless and completely shaken up. She was still trembling from top to toe and single tears would still roll down her cheeks. Hermione had a nauseous feeling in the pit of her stomach and her arms were covered in goose bumps, even though it was boiling outside.

She sat on the edge of her bed and casted a look at her alarm clock; it was four in the morning.

A deep, shaky sigh escaped her lips; she stood up and replaced her short night gown for black, mid -calf trousers and a red tank top. Afterwards she donned on her lightest bathrobe and went to the door.

Hermione slowly opened the door and peered into the hallway, which was shrouded in darkness. Beams of moonlight were streaming through the roof window and gave the hall an eerie look. She stepped out of the door and tiptoed to the stairs, leading to the front door hallway.

She put one foot on the first step and immediately it creaked loudly. Hermione sucked in her breath. She didn't want to wake her parents but that step would certainly have given her away. She didn't move for a few seconds, listening intensely for any sounds coming from the master bedroom. But nothing could be heard.

How weird.

Then another thought crossed her mind and she felt like a fool. Of course she wouldn't hear her parents; they weren't even in the house. Both of them had left for a holiday in Ireland.

She almost slapped her hand against her forehead at her foolishness. But that would mean losing hold of the wall and probably to a tripping-down-the-stairs. So she carefully made her way downwards.

On her way to the living room Hermione remembered that her parents had been trying to persuade her to come to Ireland with them.

Normally, she would not have refused; she loved travelling. But the events of the last school year had touched her deep within her soul and her pain had still been raw. She wouldn't have been able to relax anyway while constantly wondering where Draco could be.

Her parents didn't know the entire story. Sure, they had gotten the general idea: that someone their daughter really cared about had left. But who, how and where were questions that Hermione hadn't answered, yet.

One day or another they had to know the whole story. But that day was still far away and she had no intention of telling it before she felt stronger and was sure that she wouldn't lose herself in a breakdown in front of her parents.

Not that they would disapprove of it, on the contrary, they would even help her to feel better again. But she guessed that it was the Gryffindor inside her that didn't want to show too much weakness. Anyway, it still wouldn't have brought Draco back.

Hermione had been so lost in her own thoughts that she hadn't noticed that she was standing in the kitchen. She put some water to the boil and pulled out a large cup from the cabinet. A few minutes later she poured the hot water in the cup and soaked her satchel of 'Lady Grey' tea in it.

While waiting for the tea to get ready her mind drifted off to Draco, again, and she hoped that the dream hadn't been any kind of weird insight of the future.

At that last thought she grimaced; 'insight in the future'? Now she was starting to sound like professor Trelawney.

In one word: crazy.

She made her way to the living room and sat down on the long couch in front of the window. It looked out over the street, with the neat little lawns and a few trees here and there.

But then Hermione creased her brow: maybe it wasn't so crazy.

The dreams had been very realistic and it seemed as if Draco could actually see or rather feel her whenever she was in them. They had also never felt like a real dream, they almost felt like reality or at least at the brink of reality.

And of course it wasn't entirely impossible; she remembered reading some things about a "psychic connection" between people. But it only occurred in rare situations, in situations where people had developed a deep emotional connection with each other.

When two people were as one, were soul mates.

Her frown deepened and while all these things were roaming through her mind she kept looking through the window, staring in the distance.

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><p>Miles away from London a large wood was outlined against the midnight sky. A single doe was nibbling on the grass and a whisper of a breeze moved the leaves of the trees. Suddenly the doe jerked her head up and her ears prickled.<p>

A sound of shouting could be heard in the distance and it came closer and closer.

When the sound was too close for comfort the doe got scared and she immediately ran away.

Running footsteps were approaching fast and made the branches on the forest floor creak loudly.

Draco's breathing was heavy and bramble bushes scratched his arms and pricked through his jeans. But he hadn't time to think about that, he had to keep running and running and not look back. His life literally depended on it.

His feet grew heavier with the minute and he realised that he was slowing down in speed.

He stopped for a few moments to gaspingly catch his breath. But then the cackle of laughter of his aunt echoed through the forest and he ran again.

He had to try to stay ahead of his pursuers or he would be dead meat.

Flashes of red and green flashed beside his body, all missing him by inches.

The Death Eaters had opened fire. Draco also threw spells behind him but then one beam of red light hit his arm and he went down.

He tried scurrying back on his feet but the beam had paralysed him. All he could do was hoping that the spell would wear off quickly. His heart was hammering in his chest and with one last effort he tried to lift up his head.

When he looked in front of him he could see the outlines of a shape.

Her curls were cascading down her shoulders and a frightened expression was written in her big, brown eyes.

No, it couldn't be!

He blinked but when he opened his eyes again the figure hadn't disappeared. Hermione was still standing at the same place as before, opening and closing her mouth. But he couldn't hear anything and noticed that she was eerily transparent. It seemed as if he was seeing her ghost.

For a second a horrible feeling went through him and he hoped that it wasn't her ghost, because that would mean that something bad had happened to her.

He swallowed and kept holding her gaze. Suddenly she was pulled back abruptly by some unseen force. He saw her struggling, trying to get back to him. But whatever it was wouldn't let her and she disappeared out of sight. Still overwhelmed by what he had just seen he had forgotten about the dangerous situation he was in.

'There you are my little nephew.'

The voice of his aunt went through him like nails screeching on a blackboard and brought him back to his senses.

'Well, that was certainly easy.' A deep voice said, making all the others laugh out loud.

Bellatrix snorted: 'we could have guessed that it would be. Cowardice and weakness are definitely traits that he inherited from that damn father of his. See, you didn't give us exactly a wild chase, my dear nephew. What a pity.'

She pressed her heeled foot in Draco's back which sent a shock of pain through his body.

'So, now we have him. Can we finally finish him off?'

Bellatrix glared at the Death Eater who had spoken out loud.

'No, Amycus. I thought the Dark Lord had made it very clear that the boy should be brought to him, alive.'

'So, that he can have all the fun again of killing someone? I'm sure our Lord would be just as pleased if we brought him the body. Maybe he would even reward us.'

A chorus of agreement rose up from the other Death Eaters. But they immediately fell silent at the spark of anger that flickered up in Bellatrix's eyes.

She took her foot from Draco's back and walked towards Amycus Carrow; she moved silent and determined, like a cat sneaking up on a mouse. She held her head high and her back straight and kept closing in on the Death Eater.

Bellatrix had a frightful appearance; the dark shadows of the wood fell in weird angles on her face so that she looked even crazier than usual. Dark circles were lying underneath her eyes and made it seem as if her eyes were hallowed.

Draco could hear the shuffling of feet and knew that the Death Eaters were moving away from her.

Amycus and Bellatrix had moved right in front of Draco, so he had a clear view of what was going on. His aunt had driven the cloaked man with his back against a tree trunk; she had pulled out her wand and was pointing it right at the Death Eater's chest.

She leaned dangerously forward and her face was just inches apart from the other one.

'I said that we have to take the boy to the Dark lord and he shall be alive. How dare you even think of defying _His_ orders?'

Then a mean smile appeared on her face: 'I'll have no choice but to report your disobedience to our Dark Lord… he'll know how to deal with you.'

'Please, no. Don't tell him I said all that, I take it back! I'll leave the boy alone!'

'You better. Or I will report it and then, for you, they'll be hell to pay.' She hissed through her teeth. She turned on her heels and took three steps forward. Then she turned around again and yelled: '_Crucio!_'

Amycus Carrow fell on the ground, letting out an excruciating scream. Bellatrix huffed and a small smile tugged at her lips:

'that was for making sure it sunk in.'

While the Death Eaters were distracted Draco noticed that feeling was spreading through his arm again. He could actually move his fingertips and eventually his entire hand.

Draco realised that this was his chance to escape. He waited until his aunt turned her back and immediately got up. He searched for his wand and found it a few feet in front of him. He quickly picked it up and started to point it at the Death Eaters encircling him. It took a while for the others to realise what was going on, then someone finally reacted and also lifted his wand:

'_Stupefy_!'

But Draco was too fast and blocked his opponent's spell. The Death Eater flew with a loud smack against a tree. His aunt faced him again, a surprised expression written all over her face. Then he started running and was already twenty feet ahead when he heard his aunt screaming:

'what are you all staring at? He's trying to get away! Stop him!'

That was his cue. As flashes of light were thrown after him, Draco fled into the darkness of the night and apparated.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter three**

Sunrise had come and it filled the sky with the exuberant colours of orange and red. Curtains were being pulled away from the windows and somewhere a rooster announced the brand new day.

But something in the air promised that this day would be just as hot and burning as the previous one.

A beam of the rising sun lit the living room and gave Hermione's brown curly hair a more auburn colour.

She was still sitting in front of the window, staring through it, when all of a sudden three knocks sounded from the front door.

Hermione was only slightly aware that she had heard a sound; she was too lost in her own thoughts.

Then, with a loud KRACK, Harry, Ron and Ginny apparated right next to her. With a small scream Hermione snapped out of her thoughts and looked at the three of them.

'What are you doing! Imagine what trouble we would be in if any of the neighbours saw you! You better tell me they didn't see you…'

Ron and Harry rolled their eyes at one another.

'Of course they didn't see us… we were very careful.' Ron said.

Hermione let out a sigh of relief when Harry went to sit next to her on the couch.

'So, are you ready?' He asked.

Hermione was completely blown away by his question and frowned at him:

'ready?'

'Yes, have you packed everything you need?'

She kept looking at him, question written all over her face.

'Hermione, don't tell me that you forgot?' Ron said.

'What am I suppose to remember?'

'We are here to take you to the Burrow, we agreed that you stayed with us during the summer? Don't you remember it at all?'

Apprehension started to appear in her eyes. Right! Now she vaguely remembered it. She must have agreed upon it during her zombie days after Draco's depart. That's why it must have slipped her mind.

'Hermione! How could you forget about spending time with your friends during the holidays?' Harry said dramatically.

'I don't know, I guess it must have slipped my mind…' she swallowed and cast another look through the window.

Ron opened his mouth to say something, but immediately shut it at Ginny's warning glance. His sister kneeled down next to Hermione and said:

'how long have you been sitting here?'

Her friend didn't look her in the eyes: 'a while…'

'How long is a while exactly?'

'Five hours, give or take.'

Then she looked at her other friends: ' I'm sorry, but would you two mind waiting a little bit longer? Then I'll go upstairs to change and pack.'

'O no, we don't mind. We've got plenty of time…' Ron stretched out and let himself fall on one of the other couches.

When Hermione stood up Ginny followed with an ' I'll help you pack.'

She smiled at her: 'thank you.'

When they were in her bedroom Hermione hastily pulled a suitcase out of her closet and placed it on the bed. She decided to change first and after grabbing a white summer dress and some ballerina's she went in her closet space.

While she was changing Ginny walked around the room and asked: 'can I already pack something?'

'Erm, my books maybe?'

'Which ones do you want?'

'My schoolbooks and "Northanger Abbey" from Jane Austen You can find them on my nightstand.'

Ginny took the books and while she was placing them in the suitcase she asked: 'Hermione, are you ok?'

Hermione swallowed and when she answered she tried very hard to keep her voice steady and perky: 'Of course, why wouldn't I be?'

'You are not ok.'

She should have known that she couldn't fool Ginny, no matter how hard she would try; her friend would always know what was really going on with her.

Hermione decided not to give an answer and could hear a soft: 'I see…' from Ginny.

Her friend sat down on her bed and when she stepped out of her changing closet, Ginny's eyes were focusing on her.

'Is it him?'

Hermione started to tremble a little bit but set to grabbing more clothes to put in her suitcase: 'who?'

'You know who I mean… does Draco ring a bell?'

Hermione said nothing but kept walking around the room to gather her things.

'Hermione, look at me.'

She bit her bottom lip and looked at Ginny.

'I understand that this must be difficult… but it was his choice.'

But Ginny was lying, she might know Hermione very well, but Hermione knew her friend just as well. Ginny didn't understand, she didn't understand anything of what she and Draco had.

And that's exactly what her friend had said when he had left Hogwarts.

Her friend brought her back out of her thoughts: 'Draco went away, and this is going to sound a little harsh but you have to try to live a little. Try to move on without looking back.'

Easier said than done. But nevertheless she nodded: 'I know, it's just that I keep having these dreams…'

'But those are just dreams, Hermione. Nothing more and nothing less.'

Too bad they didn't feel like dreams to her. Hermione sighed and closed her suitcase: 'come on, we better go. Before Harry and Ron make themselves too comfortable on those couches downstairs.'

Ginny smiled at her: 'it'll be ok again, you'll see.'

On the outside Hermione gave her a smile, but deep inside she knew that it would never be "ok again" until Draco was back by her side.

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><p>Once Draco reappeared in another forest, far away from the last one, he immediately started to cast protection spells. Last time it had been foolish of him to think that only two or three of those spells would keep him safe.<p>

Now, he knew better and didn't want to take a risk like that any time soon.

He started moving around the tent and kept casting spell after spell. He was saying the final one: '_protego totalum', _when a memory crossed his mind. He thought back at the times when Hermione had cast spells back in the Room of Requirement. She always made sure, for both their sakes, that extra protection was added to the room. Because if anyone would have found them, they would have been in big trouble.

They had kept their relationship a secret for many months until her Gryffindor friends had accidentally stumbled on the two of them kissing passionately in one of the corridors at Hogwarts.

A thin smile tugged at Draco's lips at the reminder of their petrified faces. But then he thought back at what he had seen in the woods.

'Hermione…' he let himself fall on a tree trunk and when the image of her appeared in his mind a horrible feeling went through every fibre of his body. Only the thought of the fear in her eyes sent cold chills through his spine. He couldn't believe that he had actually seen her.

He had seen her, right?

Another shock went through him when he remembered how transparent she had been. She had resembled the ghosts that roam around at Hogwarts, and that was even more disturbing.

He put his head in his hands and swallowed hard, hoping that no harm had been done to her.

Hoping that she wasn't…dead.

Over the past months Draco hadn't stopped thinking of her. Her face was burned in his mind. Every day he remembered the last look she had given him before his depart. That look had been filled with hope and love and it was her expressive brown eyes that had given him the courage to get through every single day since then.

It were the memories of her that kept him alive and the hope of seeing her again someday helped him to hold on.

How many times hadn't he thought about the nights they had shared and how, when the morning came, they had found it hard to let go. One little sentence she had said was stuck on replay in his mind. It had been right after they had made love and right before that horrible battle with the Death Eaters.

The sentence she had said was: "_I wish we could lay here forever." _ He had promised her that they would, someday, and he had meant it. But especially in the darkest times of the night, after nightmares of Hermione being hurt by his crazy aunt and Voldemort, he wished that one day that promise would be true.

But seeing how things were at this moment it was hard to imagine anything like that happening, ever.

All those memories and feelings had always given him a spark of hope and longing to see Hermione again.

But now, after seeing her in the woods, it seemed as if darkness had surrounded itself around his heart. Sadness overwhelmed him and before he realised it tears were streaming down his face. She had to be ok because he couldn't imagine a life without her. Hermione had given him a purpose in life and had driven away all those fears and chances of becoming a Death Eater, for which he was very grateful.

She was the only person who listened and cared about him, when nobody else did.

No! He looked up again and decided that he would not give up the hope to ever find her again. They were meant to be together; they needed and loved each other like they needed to breathe to live.

He also convinced himself that he would have felt it if something had happened to her. No, he wouldn't rest until they were together again.

He loved her and that feeling was going to help him with getting her back, it was going to help him to be reunited with the person he truly loved.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Hey everyone!**

**I uploaded a bit later, but here it is: chapter 4 of 'A race for love' :).**

**I would like to thank Ollie and Teffie for their reviews, it's always nice to get a little feedback :).**

**So, thank you! :D**

**I hope you'll enjoy the next chapter.**

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><p><strong>Chapter four<strong>

The Burrow was rising up against the clear, blue sky.

Hermione had just apparated about twenty feet from the lovely house and took a moment to take it all in.

As always it was surrounded by green fields and pastures, although some of them seemed dried out because of the boiling heat. Trees were also spread across the area and the sweet smell of flowers filled the air.

It looked as peaceful as ever and just for a moment the sight of all this seemed to calm her down a little bit. During these past months she had forgotten what it was like to be relaxed since she had felt nothing but fear and sadness.

'Are you coming Hermione?'

She nodded and followed when Ginny, Harry and Ron led the way towards the Burrow. They were almost at the front door when Mrs. Weasley came through it and walked towards them.

'There you four are! I expected you back an hour ago.'

'I'm afraid that's my fault Mrs. Weasley, I still had to pack everything…' Hermione admitted with a slight blush.

'O never mind! Welcome back Hermione, why don't we go inside? I have tea and cookies set out on the table. And if you would like something cooler, there's also some pumpkin juice.' Mrs. Weasley said cheerfully.

'Thank you, Mrs. Weasley.'

'O, it's nothing dear. We're glad you accepted the invitation to stay with us.' Then Mrs. Weasley noticed Hermione's suitcase and said: 'maybe we should get that up to Ginny's room. Ron, Harry? Can you help Hermione with that?'

'Of course,' Harry said.

But there wasn't a second agreement from Ron. They started to look around the room, but couldn't see him.

Then Hermione saw him coming back from the kitchen, biting in a chocolate chip cookie and carrying three others in his hand.

'Did you say something, mom?'

Mrs. Weasley gave him a disapproving look when another voice sounded from behind them.

'Never mind, we'll help Harry carrying it up the stairs.'

Hermione turned around and a smile came across her face when she saw Fred and George walking towards them.

It had been the last one who had spoken.

'Hey, Hermione.' Fred said with a smile. His twin copied him but added a wink to it.

She responded with a bright smile, well as bright as she could manage. And when Fred was talking to Harry, George gave her a quick hug.

He had become a very good friend of her last school year; in fact he had been the only one she could talk to.

It was after all George who found her on those stairs when Draco, under the Imperius curse his father had cast on him, had broken up with her.

She had been a wreck and he had been there to support her throughout all of that heartache.

Afterwards she had learned that Draco really loved her and that the break up wasn't of his doing.

She had forgiven him and they were a couple again.

But really, she didn't know what she would have done without George.

Because even when her other friends had found out that something was going on between her and Draco Malfoy, their greatest enemy, he had also been the only one who chose their side and understood and accepted the love between her and Draco.

When the last one had left, George had taken up the role of a good friend and confider once more.

He had comforted her and was the one who had taken her out of the trance- like state she had been in, by once and a while conjuring up a smile on her face.

She trusted him and he would always be a dear friend to her.

Hermione came back from that memory and noticed that Harry and George were carrying the suitcase upstairs.

They were halfway on the first flight of stairs when Mrs. Weasley disappeared into the garden.

Then Fred and George nodded at each other and cast a spell together that sent the suitcase floating in the air. They neatly kept up the spell until they came to Ginny's room, then they let it fall next to the beds.

'That was that.' Fred said with a satisfied grin at his twin.

'Yes , we are definitely getting better at that spell. I mean we didn't bump the suitcase into anything or broke something.' George answered.

'Right you are! It's progress! Anyhow, I think we had enough practise from magically placing all those boxes on the shelves back in the shop.'

He stretched out and asked: ' so, who's up for a game of Quidditch?'

Harry , Ron, George and Ginny eagerly agreed and they went back downstairs.

'Harry and I are so going to beat you this time.' Ron said.

'O dream on WonWon.' Fred replied.

A smile appeared on Hermione's face at hearing Ron's past nickname, given to him by Lavender Brown. Even though Ron and Lavender had broken up, the twins couldn't find it in their hearts to let go of that ridicules nickname and used it regularly.

Her smile widened and she grabbed one of her books, following the others.

* * *

><p>Hermione was sitting in the shadows of an oak tree, watching her friends as they sped by on their broomsticks in the large garden.<p>

They had been playing Quidditch for half an hour and Hermione had done the expected encouragements. Though they were all very good, she hadn't paid too much attention to the game.

To be honest she was a little bit glad that she was on her own again, so she could think.

And thinking she did, mostly about Draco and her dreams. She was trying to figure out what they meant and if they were really dreams.

Occasionally she let out a little sigh and tried to focus back on her book. But of course she couldn't, her mind was running wild with questions and wonderings.

Now and then flashes of Draco also crossed her mind; from the loving smiles and looks he used to give her to the fear in his eyes that he was now probably facing.

Hermione tried to push away the images of Draco being hunted and she tried to hold on to the ones of his smiles and laughter.

Suddenly soft footsteps were coming towards her and she looked up, holding her hand against the powerful rays of sunlight. She could make out a face and saw that it was George.

'Some game, right?' He said.

She just looked at him: 'yes, it is.' Immediately Hermione wished she had paid more attention to it, so she could go on with the conversation. Instead silence followed and George decided to break it.

'Would you mind if I sat with you for a while, I need a break, and it's Ginny's turn to play anyway.'

'Be my guest.' Hermione said, while moving a little to the left to make room for him. George picked up a glass of pumpkin juice from the little table next to them and sat down.

He had just taken a sip of his drink when he asked: ' Hermione, are you ok?'

Taken aback she looked at him: 'I'm fine why shouldn't I be?'

'I don't know, I mean with Draco being somewhere away and considering the short goodbye you two had…I 'm just wondering how you are holding up.'

She bit her lip and considered if she should come clean. Saying that she wasn't alright and that she missed her boyfriend terribly and tell him about the nightmares she had.

It's not like George hadn't helped her before right?

He noticed her hesitation and saw the sad expression that had appeared on her face: 'you are not ok are you?'

Hearing somebody else saying that broke something inside her and she shook her head fiercely.

'Do you want to talk about it? Maybe it can give you some relief?'

Hermione thought about it for another second but then took a deep breath and started talking.

'I just miss him terribly, George. I mean one moment we're together and the other we are forced to part. Don't we have our own choice in this? What gives the Death Eaters even the right to change the lives of two persons who love each other deeply and make them nothing more but pawns in their threats and evil plans? To tear them apart and ruin their lives forever.'

Her voice broke and she looked at him, feeling tears filling her eyes: 'it just not fair George, they shouldn't be pulling at our strings as if we're nothing more but puppets.'

He gave her hand a squeeze: ' I know it isn't.'

'I also keep having these nightmares of him being punished or killed by the Death Eaters. Ginny keeps saying that those are just terrible dreams and nothing more than that. But somewhere I know they aren't. They are just so vivid; as if everything that's happening in them is real… sometimes it's like we're linked together by them…'

George processed everything she had just said, he was quiet for a few seconds and said:

'you really do love him don't you?'

'Yes , I do, very thoroughly.'

'Then maybe those dreams aren't just dreams, maybe you two are linked in some mystical way. It wouldn't be surprising though if everything you see at night is real, if you love him that much as you say. It wouldn't be the first time lovers would sense each other, no matter how far away they are.'

That was true; she had read several things at Hogwarts about it, about the mysterious way lovers could connect at a higher level.

Then she realised something, something that she had to do. She looked back at George: 'if it's true than Draco's in real danger. I need to find him George; I wouldn't be able to just go on with my life if I would never see him again, if something would happen to him. I just have to see him again; I want to spend the rest of my life with Draco as in every possible second.'

'Well, if you really want that, you will.'

'But what of I won't? What if _they _get to him? What if I never find him?' Now tears were rolling freely down her cheeks.

George put his arm around her and said: 'shh don't think like that. You two will see each other again, someday.'

At George's words she hoped that he was right and wished that that someday would come soon.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: hey everyone :),**

**It took me a bit longer to upload a new chapter since I had a mild case of a writers' block.**

**But here's chapter five of " A race for love". :)**

**I noticed that , at the beginning of the story I forgot to mention that it would take place in an AU. **

**Well, kind of. I'm kind of ignoring the hunt for the Horcruxes, they will be mentioned later in the story though. But I won't say much about them.**

**Also, all the characters and places belong to J.K. Rowling :).**

**I hope you'll like the next chapter. :)**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter five<strong>

_Hermione was walking on a path leading through a surrounding of evergreen trees. It was a warm evening and she could feel the earth sizzling underneath her feet. _

_She hadn't got a clue what was going on, all she knew was that she had to keep walking. Hermione was pulled forward by an invisible force and with every step she took her heart started beating faster and faster._

_After what seemed like hours she had left the thickness of the forest behind and came to a hold. Now her heart was beating like crazy in her chest and she had a feeling that she had reached her destination. _

_Hermione looked up from the ground; surprise crossed her face when she noticed a little house in front of her. _

_On closer inspection she saw that it was actually a cottage, a very old one. More even, the ivy that covered the entire front of it and the blackness of the stones indicated that it must've been there for about hundreds of years. _

_She tilted her head slightly to one side as she took it all in; the cottage hadn't been touched by anyone but nature for many years. It looked very peaceful actually and she wondered who had lived in it or what it had been used for._

_A shelter for hunters maybe? Or for a person who wanted to escape from the hectic life of the villages and cities? Or a secret meeting place for lovers?_

_Hermione slightly shook her head at the last thought; now her imagination was really running wild._

_Her eyes were pulled to the door and a deep curiosity whelmed up inside her. Something had brought her here for a reason and she really wanted to figure out what that reason might be._

_Hermione took a few steps closer to the door when a feeling of nervousness broke through the surface. She hesitated, after all she didn't know what she would find inside. _

_It could be something amazing or maybe something distressing. She absolutely didn't like this feeling, she would feel safer if she knew what to expect. When she put one hesitating step forward she was startled by a loud creaking sound. Her head snapped up and she was filled with uneasiness when she noticed something. It seemed that the door of the cottage had just opened on its own accord._

_She swallowed; ok, if she didn't know any better this could be a sign that she had to go inside. But maybe it isn't a sign, maybe..._

_Her thoughts were interrupted by another loud groan. She looked up; the door stood widely open now. _

_After casting one last glance behind her Hermione went inside. Once inside the door closed softly behind her. She looked at it with a creased brow and shook her head. Then her attention was drawn by what used to be the sitting room. Her eyebrows rose at the sight of it. Many pieces of furniture were placed all around the room. There were two rocking chairs standing in front of the fire place, rocking slightly in the drafts that blew through the many cracks. A large piano stood in the right corner with little pieces of old paper underneath it. _

_Her eyes moved to the centre of the room where a long wooden table was placed. There were also large bookcases that lined the left wall. She immediately went to them and picked up a book. The pages of it were yellowed by old age and upon opening it a musty smell filled her nostrils. Hermione took in the first page and saw that it was a first edition of Charlotte's Brontë's "Jane Eyre", completely dating back to 1847._

_Her brown eyes widened with surprise and she couldn't suppress a quiet 'wow'. Hermione was about to read the first page when a loud thud came from above her. Her eyes immediately focused themselves on the ceiling. She shook her head and opened the book again. But she froze when footsteps came from upstairs. She put down the book and went to the staircase, calling out: ' hello?'_

_The footsteps stopped at the sound of her voice. She frowned and asked, louder this time: 'is someone up there?' _

_No response._

_Hermione bit her lip and cold chills went down her spine. A weird feeling filled her heart and it started beating faster. She really wanted to go and check the upstairs, but something held her in place. Fear maybe?_

'_O for crying out loud, Hermione. You are a Gryffindor! Show a little courage.' She told herself under her breath. _

_After one last swallow she started to climb the stairs. The steps creaked loudly underneath her feet. She had just reached the top when a door slammed shut. Her head snapped up and she looked in its direction. She walked towards it and gave the door a small push. The door opened slowly and she stepped into the room. _

_Hermione almost jumped in the air when she saw a person, standing near the window. His back was turned towards her. She stepped closer, making the floor groan under her feet. _

_Startled, the person turned around, his eyes set wide. At seeing his face Hermione's heart almost stopped. Her eyes wandered over the person's face; taking in the blond hair and grey eyes. _

_She gasped: ' Draco?'_

'_Hermione? Is that really you?'_

'_Yes! Yes, it's me! Can you see me?' _

_A small smile played along his lips: ' of course I can see you.' And without further ado he came towards her and wrapped his arms around her waist. She immediately responded to him by putting her arms around his neck._

_He whispered in her ear: ' it's been so long… I've missed you.'_

'_I know, I missed you too.'_

_When they pulled back, Draco broke the distance between them by putting both of his hands on her cheeks and kissing her softly. A strong , warm feeling crept into Hermione's heart and she answered to him by turning the sweet kiss into something more passionate. His hands followed a path from her neck to her shoulder and back again. She gasped at his touch and moved her lips, leaving a trail of warm kisses from the corner of his mouth to the crook of his neck.__ He pulled her closer to him; tightening one of his arms around her waist while softly tangling the other in her hair. She had returned to his lips, her hands roaming over his back._

'_Hermione!' _

_For a split of a second she stopped, wondering if she had imagined it. Then she shrugged and gave Draco all her attention again._

'_Hermione!'_

_She pulled back from him: ' did you hear that?'_

_A bit startled he asked: ' what?'_

'_Hermione!' Somewhere in the distance someone shouted her name for a third time._

'_That!'_

_Then it seemed as if something was pulling her even further away from him. _

'_I think I have to go…'_

_His eyes widened: ' what do you mean?'_

_Right at that moment she was being pulled backwards. His first instinct was to hold her into place, not wanting to let her go._

'_What's happening?' He asked, panic seeping through his voice. _

'_I don't know… please! Don't let go of me!'_

_But alas, the force that was pulling her away was stronger and one of her hands slipped out of his grip. With all his might Draco tried to hold on to the other, but he could feel her fingers slipping from his hand._

'_Draco!' _

_And that was it , within second she was gone. Draco stared in front of him, not wanting to believe that she was gone. That she was torn away from him, for a second time._

* * *

><p>'Hermione! Wake up!'<p>

Someone was shaking her, yelling in her face.

'Hermione! Come on! Wake up!'

Her eyes snapped open and she was looking straight into Ginny's. She felt a little bit groggy and put a hand to her head, trying to make the dizziness go away.

'Finally! You gave me a real fright!' Ginny's eyes were huge and concern was written in them.

'What happened?'

'What happened? What happened! Hermione you were having some kind of nightmare! You have been tossing an turning for the last ten minutes! No matter how many times I yelled your name, you didn't respond! It was very creepy!'

_A nightmare? Everything was so fuzzy; what had she dreamed?_

A pang went through her: Draco.

Hermione looked back at her friend, she did not want to share that dream with her. She knew what she would say, that it was just a dream. But Hermione knew that it was a lot more than that.

She forced a smile: ' it's ok Ginny. I'm fine.'

'Are you?'

She swallowed: ' yes I'm ok… I'm sorry I woke you.'

Her friend sighed: ' ow that's ok. We have to get up anyway.'

'We do?'

Ginny nodded: ' yes, don't you remember?'

Hermione slowly shook her head.

' Remember that trip we, or better George, planned; us going to Hogsmeade?'

'That's today?'

Ginny beamed at her: ' it is! So we better get ready.' And with one last smile Ginny disappeared into the hallway, on her way to the bathroom.

When she was sitting there alone, Hermione sighed, after that dream she didn't want to go anywhere. But it's not like she had a choice. With one final sigh she threw the covers off her and went to get dressed.

Three hours later all of them were wandering through the streets of Hogsmeade. It was only eleven o'clock in the morning but the sun was already flaring in the sky. It was going to be another hot day and Hermione was glad that she was wearing a light, blue summer dress.

They had already visited two shops and went to visit the rest of them after lunch.

Hermione tried very hard to focus on what was going on around her, but her thoughts constantly drifted away to her dream and to Draco. It had been the first time that he had seen her, had touched her. Yes, the dream had been so real that, even now, she could still feel his hands on her skin and taste his lips.

The others didn't notice how distracted she was, she had had good practise in putting on a poker face.

But of course there would always be one person, other than Draco, who seemed to know what she was feeling, what she was thinking. Out of nowhere George came walking next to her:

'are you feeling ok?'

'No, not really.' She looked up into his face: ' I had another dream this morning.'

'About Draco?'

She nodded: 'but it was different than before…'

'How's that?'

'Well, this time he could see me too. We could even touch each other.'

George thought this through: ' maybe it means that you would see him soon. You know, that the time of your reunion with him is getting closer?'

Hermione frowned, she knew what he meant and what he was saying now could be quite possible.

'You mean something like the more the dream seems to be real, the sooner it will come true?'

He smiled at her : 'yes, something like that.'

She smiled back at him, it was weird how he could always make her feel better. Since that Quidditch game in the Weasleys' back yard she and George had talked regularly and she had felt like some of the weight and stress that had been pressing on her heart had lifted. It was thanks to him that she had cherished a strong hope of seeing Draco again.

Hermione didn't know how he did it, but George always found the right words to put her mind at ease and to give her courage and strength to hold on and never give up hope. It was great, having a best friend like him.

'You know, who knows, maybe I'll be the one responsible for bringing you two together again?'

Hermione gave him a questioning look; what the hell could he mean by that? He could only grin at her expression and addressed all of them: ' hey what would you guys say if we grabbed a Butterbeer in the Three Broomsticks?'

A chorus of agreements rose up and they immediately made their way to the pub.

Once there George walked straight to a table; two person's were already seated there.

Hermione tugged at his arm: ' I think this table is already taken , maybe we should…'

But when she looked back at the two persons her eyes widened; for Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood were looking back at her.

The last one rose from her chair and stepped forwards.

'hello everyone,' she spoke in a dreamy voice. Her blue eyes focussed themselves on George: ' we came, as we promised.'

A cold chill went down Hermione's spine, feeling that something was up and being pretty sure that that something had to do with her.


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Hey everyone!**

**Wow, it's been a while, college had sure been keeping me busy, I'm sorry!  
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**But now I'm back with chapter 6! ^^  
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**As I have mentioned in my oneshot of ' We belong together' I'm also working on a new Dramione story.  
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**I can't wait to put in on here! But I'm definitely going to focus on this one first.  
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**What else can I say?  
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**O as you would have noticed I changed my pen name from Grania1992 to WisteriaBlossom1992 and I think that this one will stick :).  
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**I also want to thank LauraBees and singalot97 and Ollie for their reviews! Thank you! :D  
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**And now, I hope you'll enjoy chapter 6 :)  
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><p><strong>Chapter six<strong>

Hermione's eyes found George's and he gave her a sheepish smile.

Ok, now she was sure that he had something to do with this. She gave him a small glare before turning, smiling, to Luna: ' will you excuses us for a minute?'

'Yes, of course.' And she went back to the table.

'Can I talk to you, George?' she said through clenched teeth.

Not giving him the chance to answer she dragged him ten feet from the table, where the others were taking seats.

'What the hell are you up to?'

He shyly rubbed the back of his head, eyes drawn to the floor.

'Well... I...Let's just say that I want to help you.'

'Help me? Help me how exactly?'

He looked back at her, a small smile tugging at his lips:' you'll see, don't you trust me?'

Hermione was taken aback and sighed: 'of course I trust you but...'

'Well, so why don't we sit down with the others and I'll explain everything?'

She thought about that: 'ok.'

'Ok.' He put his hand on her shoulder and guided her to the table. She sat down and looked at her friends, seeing her confusion also reflected on their faces.

George sat down next to her when Madam Rosmerta took their orders. After a few minutes she returned with the requested beverages. When everyone had his or her drink in front of them George cleared his throat and started talking.

'So, everyone, there is something I have to tell you...'

'You and Katie Bell are officially a pair?' Ginny asked, good-humouredly.

'Erm... no. It didn't work out between us. No big deal. What I want to say is that all of you aren't here by mere coincidence. I've been planning this for a few weeks...'

All of them were quiet, surprised and looked at him expectantly. His eyes wandered to Hermione for just a second before continuing: 'as you all know, or at least you should have noticed it, Hermione is going through a rough time right now.'

'O come on, she's doing great! Look at her!' Ron threw in.

They all looked at her and she had a hard time keeping a straight face.

'Ron, surely somewhere you know that isn't true.'

'It isn't?'

Hermione couldn't speak, because she knew that if she would try to her voice would break when thinking back at the past months without Draco. So, she shook her head instead.

His face fell: ' ow... is it because of...'

This time George took over from her: ' yes, it is because of Draco. She misses him terribly and she has been very sad ever since he left. And lately she has been having...' He looked at her but she shook her head again.

'Well, let us say that she has been having an inkling that something is wrong...that something horrible is going to happen to Draco...after all, the Death Eaters are still looking for him. Hermione has been thinking and she has decided that she wants to go look for him... save him. So, I say: why don't we help her?'

Hermione's eyes widened at hearing that last sentence and her head snapped into George's direction. The others were quiet, looking at both of them, letting the words sink in and maybe even wondering if George was kidding.

Seeing his straight face, it was obvious that he wasn't.

'Are you saying... we should help Malfoy?' Ron looked at his brother with a very confused expression in his eyes.

'Yes.'

Harry looked at him: ' but it is Malfoy...'

This almost sent Hermione over the edge, she jumped up from her chair and confronted him: ' what do you mean by that!'

'Well, I'm sorry Hermione but you have to understand that I'm not exactly jumping to help him, after everything he did to us, to you.'

'But he changed! How many times do I have to explain that to you!'

'It's still Draco Hermione, you can't teach an old dog any new tricks! Or in his case a ferret.'

'Stop comparing him with animals! He is a wonderful person and I really need to find him in order to find that spark of happiness again!He's the only one who can really make me happy and if I would find him again it would be like giving me the world.'

Ron and Harry looked at each other, it was the first one who spoke:

'but you have been happy these past months! You've been doing great!'

Anger was finally flaring up in her eyes and if they were bullets they would have shot him: 'no! I haven't been happy at all. I tried to talk to you about Draco but you've never really listened to me! You were saying that everything would be allright again, that I should just forget about him and move on!'

'We've never said that!'

'Yes you have! I've heard you saying it behind my back, when you thought I wasn't listening!'

A guilty expression appeared in Harry, Ginny and Ron's eyes. They didn't dare to look at her face and focussed there attention on their drinks. Finally Ginny was the only one to gather the courage to say something: 'but...I'm sorry, but we thought it was just a crush Hermione...'

'Well, it isn't! I love him, Ginny!'

Their jaws almost dropped upon the table, they hadn't seen that one coming...

'You... you _love _him? You _love _Draco Malfoy?'

'Yes Ron, I do. Very much actually.'

Silence came down upon them, neither of them knowing what to say and trying to understand the words that Hermione had just spoken.

For some it was a lot to take in.

'So you see? I have to find him. I love him and that will never change. I am sick of the sadness and dread I am feeling and it will only go away if I have him back by my side. I admit that we aren't the perfect, little dream couple. We'll have our fights and struggles, our ups and downs. We are also quite different, I know that. But that only adds more to our relationship since we can complete each other perfectly...'

All of them were looking at her right now, still a bit shocked but listening intensely to every word she was saying, and taking in every feeling she was expressing. She knew that some of them wanted to understand her.

Luna had a very dreamy expression in her eyes, but nevertheless, her head was tilted towards Hermione. Neville seemed to fully understand her and with a slight nod he encouraged her to go on. She swallowed and tried to clarify everything she was feeling just a little more.

'Draco and I, this is going to sound very cheesy, are connected to each other in ways that even the two of us can't understand. But I am pretty sure that that connection has sprung from the same seeds, the seeds of love. Somewhere deep inside my heart I know we are meant to be, we need to have a future together. He has truly touched my heart like no one else really can or could, he has touched me deeper, pierced my entire being. But that is how it's supposed to be. And now that he's gone it feels like someone has plunged a dagger right through me and I never can be myself again without him. It's like they have taken away a crucial part of me, something that matters to me more than anything else on earth, a true love, a piece of my heart.'

At that last sentence Harry's arm instinctively wrapped itself around Ginny's waist. Neville was casting nervous looks in Luna's direction, implying that something more was going there, that he could understand her feelings in the same way Harry did. He stood up and cleared his throat: ' I'll help you Hermione.'

Luna was next; she moved towards Neville and carefully took his hand in hers: ' I'll be glad to help too.'

The red- haired girl was on the verge of tears and she flung herself around Hermione's neck, whispering: ' I am so sorry, I never realised...please forgive me. I'll stand by your side from now on.'

She smiled: ' I forgive you Ginny.'

The last one pulled away: ' Harry and I also want to help!' A blank expression appeared on her boyfriend's face , but he shook his head: ' Yes, sure. I'll do anything to help you Hermione.'

Hermione looked at Fred who threw his hands up in the air:' I was with you and my twin from the very beginning, so I'm in!'

Only one other person remained, all eyes focussed on him. His grim expression went over into one of anger: 'I'm not.'

This kind of hurt Hermione: ' why not?'

'It's Malfoy! Draco freaking Malfoy! I'm not going to help him with anything. How can you side with her on this after everything he did?'

His sister turned a light shade of red: ' don't be ridiculous Ron! You can at least help us for Hermione's sake!'

His blue eyes found Hermione's : ' I'm sorry, I... I don't think I can. No, I can't!'

'Ron! For crying out loud...'

'No!' He turned his head away from them, stubbornly.

After a long silence George cleared his throat: ' well... erm... I suggest that we leave tomorrow morning, around six o'clock? Can all of you come to the Burrow? That way we can start the Draco- search together?'

All of them nodded.

'Good! Six a.m. sharp it is.'

On their way home all of them were making plans for the following days, or weeks even.

'Erm... George...

'Yes, Ginny,'

'How are we going to explain this to mom? You know she won't like it.'

'Do we have to tell her?'

'Erm, yes! Otherwise she would freak!'

'Well, we can always say we are going on a good, old-fashioned, Muggle camping trip?'

Hermione's head snapped up: 'we have to lie?'

'Well, technically it isn't really a lie, now is it? I bet that on our search we'll spend a lot of time in forests and tents, right?'

'Well, yes...'

'So, you see! Problem solved!'

Right before they went their separate ways Hermione thanked Luna and Neville.

When they were gone and they were on their way to the front door of the Burrow she thanked everyone. Once inside she turned around to face Ron, who ignored her and stormed up the stairs, followed by the loud slam of a door.

'We better go talk to him...' Harry pulled Ginny along. Fred shrugged his shoulders and went after them.

'Don't worry Hermione, I'm sure that Ron will turn around. Mark my words: he'll be standing here tomorrow morning.'

'I hope so. I don't want him to stay mad at me forever.'

George laid a comforting hand on her shoulder: ' he won't.'

Suddenly she threw her arms around him and hugged him tight: ' thank you for everything!'

He hugged her back: 'don't worry, after all what are friends for?'

She pulled back and smiled at him: ' very true. Well, I guess I'm off to bed.'

'Good plan, you've got a big day ahead of you tomorrow.'

And with one last smile she also made her way upon the stairs.

Once in Ginny's room she saw that her friend wasn't there yet. She took her toilet bag and went into the bathroom. Hermione turned on the tap and small tears appeared in her eyes. She splashed cold amounts of water in her face and looked into the mirror.

With a determined expression she hoped that everything would be ok. That she would find Draco and that Ron wouldn't stay mad at her forever.


	7. Chapter 7

******AN: Hey everyone,  
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**My exams are finally over and I couldn't be more happy.  
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**This means that I can focus more on writing and normally the uploading should be more regular from now on, but please forgive me if it won't be. :)  
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**I want to thank twilight lemon for the review and to answer your question: at the beginning I was planning 15 chapters for this story, but now the story has taken on a life of its own so it could be more ( but no more than 20).  
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**I guess time will tell :).  
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**Also I do not own Harry Potter, it belongs to J.K. Rowling ( this disclaimer also counts for the previous chapters and those still to come :D)  
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**Please forgive me for the late upload and I hope you'll like chapter 7 :).  
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><p><strong>Chapter seven<strong>

Hermione was glad when it was 5 o'clock, in fact she couldn't be more relieved.

She sat up, rubbed her eyes and yawned. She was sure that she had seen all the hours of the night and hadn't had a wink of sleep.

Sometimes she had dozed off but had been wakened again by flashes of Draco's face; set in immense pain and torture. Or by images of Ron shouting at her and saying that he didn't want to have anything to do with her any more.

But mostly it had been flashes of Draco being hunted and killed.

Hermione swallowed at recalling those terrible images and forced herself to snap out of it.

She finally got out of bed and went to get ready. Ginny stirred and also got up: 'hey Hermione, ready for the day?'

She nodded and watched her friend from out of the corner of her eye: ' so, erm, did Ron say anything last night?'

An annoyed expression came over Ginny's face and she shrugged: ' no, not really. Just a lot of 'leave me alones' and ' I will never help that ferret'. By Merlin! How stubborn can someone be!'

Hermione's face fell: ' well... somewhere I get where he's coming from...'

But Ginny's held up hand silenced her: ' no way! You are not going to blame yourself or find an excuse for his horrible behaviour! He has little right to be so stubborn and should be glad he could be able to help out a friend, one of his best friends nevertheless.'

'But... Draco did taunt him,all of us, for many years...'

'Nope! I don't want to hear it, Hermione! Ron should see through his anger and have more faith in your judgement. If you say that Draco has changed and you are in love with him, who are we to question that? Anyone knows that sometimes people can change, that they were manipulated to do things to others they didn't want to do. And anyone also knows that we can't change anything about the way love works her magic. If you love someone, well, you love someone.'

At speaking that last sentence a blush coloured Ginny's cheeks.

Hermione chuckled: ' not thinking about Harry are we?'

Her friend waved her away, muttering: ' o hush, you!'

* * *

><p>After everyone had packed they went downstairs to the kitchen, where they would wait for Luna and Neville to come by the Floo network.<p>

When Hermione entered the room Molly Weasley was busy wishing her children and Harry a good camping trip whilst putting food in their backpacks. Warnings were given to Fred and George who just nodded at everything their mother was saying.

Hermione suppressed a giggle at that sight.

Right then a green flame appeared in the fireplace and Luna came walking through it, followed closely by Neville. Mrs. Weasley went to greet them and put a few packs of food in their backpacks as well.

Mister Weasley came in the small kitchen and started praising them for going on, as George had put it,"a good old-fashioned Muggle camping trip."

The clock on the wall hit six o'clock and chimed out the hour. Everyone was ready to go.

Then Hermione thought about something and her heart sank.

_Almost _everyone was in the small room, everyone but Ron.

Her eyes focussed themselves on the stairs in the hall but no sound could be heard. Sadness whelmed up inside her and tears were forming behind her eyes.

_He would never forgive her._

George had noticed Hermione's sudden distress and put a comforting arm around her shoulders. She looked into his eyes and he gave her a small smile followed by a light squeeze in her hand. Hermione smiled back while a few tears rolled down her cheeks.

Mrs. Weasley's voice sounded from behind them: 'Do you already know when you'll be back?'

Fred gave his mother a kiss on her left cheek and looked at Hermione and his twin: 'no mom, I'm sorry but we don't know that yet.'

Molly's face fell:'O ok. Well, as long as all of you will be careful and look after each other I'm sure everything will be ok. Right?'

She looked at her husband who nodded: ' yes my dear, it will be all right.'

When the last goodbyes had been said Fred and George led the way out of the door. Hermione cast one last glance on the stairs; still hoping that Ron would show up after all.

But nothing happened.

With a lot of effort she pulled her eyes away from the stairs and took a deep breathe, trying to concentrate on the search for Draco.

They had walked about six metres down a path in front of the Burrow when they heard something behind them.

'WAIT!'

Hermione looked back and saw that Ron was making his way towards them. Her heart lifted and she tried not to giggle at the sight of him almost tripping over small rocks whilst running towards them.

When he caught up he was panting lightly, all of them looked at him, grinning and waiting for him to say something.

Ron went straight to Hermione and took her hands in his: 'I'm so sorry for my stubbornness last night.' He swallowed and looked down at the ground before continuing.

'If this is really what you want, if _he_ is really what you want, and you are sure that he will make you happy, then count me in. And please forgive me.'

Hermione smiled at him and grabbed him into a hug: ' of course I forgive you. Thank you, Ron.'

Before pulling away he muttered: ' just so you know: I'm doing this for you not for that fer...'

He shut up at Hermione's frown and cleared his throat:' Erm not for him.'

She smiled again: ' I know. But still: thank you.'

Her friend nodded, feeling a little ashamed about his previous behaviour.

'Okay, now that the moment of awkwardness is over: where are we heading to?' Fred looked at Hermione, followed by the stares of the others.

She found it quite annoying: ' why are you all staring at me?'

'Well, you must have some idea where Draco is, right?'

She just stared back at them, unable to answer Ginny's question.

'Well... I... I don't...'

'Merlin! Are you trying to say that you don't know where he is? That you do not have the smallest inkling?'

Hermione avoided looking straight in her friend's eyes.'Well, there was a forest and erm a little house in the middle of it.'

'Seriously? Hermione, haven't your dreams given you any clues?'

Hermione could feel the anger rising in her chest: ' I thought you didn't believe in those?'

A blush coloured Ginny's cheeks: 'well, I've been thinking it through and I came to the conclusion that the dreams can be real. You know, that whole emotional bond thing. Whenever someone I love is in danger I can feel it,' she tenderly took Harry's hand and gave it a squeeze, ' so why couldn't the dreams be real? I mean there are a lot of records of these things, right? So, yes. Now I believe in them.'

Hermione looked up at those words and felt the feeling of anger disappearing.

'Thank you Ginny, that means a lot to me.' Her friend nodded and gave her a quick hug.

'I'm sorry, but in my dreams I have never had a good look of where Draco could be. Most of the time I see and area of trees, but that's it. I've never seen a name plate or anything.'

'Ok, so this could take a while. Where did you last see him?' Fred asked.

'Well, the last time I saw Draco we were in some kind of cottage. There was a lot of ivy growing on the front wall and the house itself was very old. I had even found a book dating back to 1847.'

George thought this through: 'maybe we should start to check out the forests of which we know that there are cottages in them. Dad used to take us to this place in Wessex.'

Ginny nodded: 'O yeah, _that_ forest. Well, it's a start.'

George looked at all of them: ' do you agree?'

They all nodded and prepared themselves to hold onto someone who knew their destination, to apparate with them. Ginny and Harry held onto Ron, followed by Neville and Luna who held on to Fred. Hermione took a lift with George.

While apparating to their destination Hermione was lost in the thought that this was it; the search for Draco had now officially started.

* * *

><p>Somewhere in an old cottage, surrounded by trees and ivy; growing on the front of the house, a boy was sitting on a wooden floor.<p>

Draco had found shelter there for almost two days.

He knew that it was unwise of him to stay in one place for a while, especially when you were being chased. But he was just so tired of moving from place to place and staying there for a few hours.

He looked up at the window in front of him; the sun was rising in the east and painted the sky with the colours of red and orange.

It was morning.

He groaned and put his head in his hands: he wasn't just tired, he was exhausted. He had been running for three or four months without stopping and had almost been caught twice.

Thinking back at those moments he couldn't thank lady Fortuna enough for being still alive. He even thought it a miracle that he had been able to stay in this cottage for two days without hearing the shouts of his aunt and Voldemort's other followers in the distance.

A chill went down his spine: 'Ok, Draco. Maybe you should start moving again.' He whispered to himself.

He took a deep breath and tried to get up on his two legs. But alas, when he lifted himself from the ground his knees buckled and he fell down again.

Draco tried a second time and a third but it always ended as the first. He was slightly out of breath. And whenever he tried to get up again pain stabbed through all the muscles in his body.

After a fifth try he gave up and knew that he had to rest his body a little longer before moving again. He was just too exhausted and had been sitting in the same position for too long.

He lifted his head at that last thought: _yes how long had he been sitting in this room like this? _

He thought back and his dream from two nights ago came to mind. A girl had entered the cottage then.

A girl with brown curls and big brown eyes; his Hermione.

Sadness filled his heart as he remembered the dream: it had been wonderful to see her again, to touch and kiss her again. Until she was pulled away from him against her will. Draco had woken up after that and had searched this entire cottage for any sign that the dream could have been real. Of course he hadn't found anything.

Afterwards he had gone into this room and had tried to sleep again; in the hope that she would return. His hope had been very strong but had shattered when he didn't see her again.

His eyelids became very heavy and before he knew it he was sleeping.

Flashes of Hermione coming out of an unfamiliar house surrounded by fields filled his mind. She was walking down a path together with her friends. They were talking and he could swear he had heard the words "search" and "Draco".

Draco's eyes snapped open and a warm feeling went through him: Hermione was coming for him.


	8. Chapter 8

**AN:**** Hey everyone!**

**Chapter eight is finally ready! :)  
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**I would like to thank memorable1102, Moonlightrose1992 and NarniaMagicLOTRDisneyLover for their nice reviews, thank you! ^^  
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**I am glad that you like the story :).  
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**As mentioned before I do not own the world of Harry Potter it belongs to J.K. Rowling.  
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**I hope you'll like chapter eight :).  
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* * *

><p><strong>Chapter eight<strong>

Hermione sat down on a fallen tree trunk and raised her face to the sky. She had to shadow off her eyes for heaven's eye was shining brightly. Wisps of small white clouds occasionally drifted across the blue sky and a warm breeze passed by her.

She raised the back of her hand to her forehead and wiped away the few beads of sweat. Her thoughts drifted towards a certain blond wizard; it had been three days since they had started their search for Draco. She hadn't had any dreams in that time; making their search even harder.

'Here, I think you could use some.'

Hermione looked up into the face of George and accepted the bottle of water he was holding out to her.

'Thanks, you are right about that.'

He smiled at her and sat beside her on the fallen tree, swallowing large gulps of water.

'Finally! Some rest!'

Hermione looked in the direction of the voice and saw that Harry and Ron practically let themselves fall on the forest floor. They were breathing heavily and reached for their bottles of water. Ginny was standing next to them with her hands on her hips, giggling at the sight of them.

Her brother shot her an annoyed glare, which made her laugh even louder:'honestly, what is up with the lack of energy? And you call yourselves Quidditch players.'

'Come on, give us some credit!' Ron sat up against a large boulder and looked at her: 'it is the warmth! Nothing wrong with our energy.'

'Riiight.' Ginny purposefully stretched out the word, which earned her a splash of water aimed at her face. But she was too quick and poor Neville was the one who received it instead.

'Whoops! Sorry Neville.'

The last one stared at Ron and smiled: 'it's all right, it was kind of refreshing, actually.'

Hermione chuckled and a tenderness filled her heart when she saw Luna taking out a handkerchief from her backpack in order to dry Neville's face.

They sure made a cute pair.

She sighed as Draco's face once more appeared in her mind's eye. A sad feeling went through her and she stared at the green blanket of grass underneath her feet.

Fred sat down on her other side and laid a hand on her shoulder: ' are you ok?'

She nodded, trying to sound convincing when speaking the next words: 'yes, I'm fine.'

Fred and George eyed her sceptically: ' really?'

This time emotions got the best of her and she shrugged: 'I will be.'

Her brown eyes moved back to the supposed couple and a genuine smile tugged at her lips: ' they sure like each other a lot.'

The twins followed her example and chuckled: 'yes, it seems that they do.'

They focussed back on Hermione: 'now don't worry, ok?' George laid his hand on her other shoulder.

'Yes, I'm with my twin. I'm sure we'll be getting closer to your boyfriend every hour.'

'Exactly, we will find him Hermione. I'm sure of that and we will use anything we have at hands, do everything possible.'

'Yep, trust us: you'll be back in the arms of your...is Prince Charming even the correct description?'

'I don't know, Prince SlyThing is probably more appropriate...'

Hermione smiled, they were trying to cheer her up a little and it worked. She used the back of her hands to give the twin on either side of her a light slap on the arm.

'Stop it! Don't call him that.' But she had to force herself to keep the laughter out of her voice.

'O all right, if we have to.'

Their break lasted for fifteen minutes and with some grunts and groans Harry and Ron were the last ones stand up. Ron stretched his arms above his head: 'so where are we going next? As far as I know we've searched all the forests with cottages that dad used to take us to.'

Ginny nodded: ' yes, I don't even know where we are now. Are we somewhere in Somerset?'

'No, that was the previous county, I think.' Fred scratched his head at trying to remember it.

Hermione nodded and pulled out a map from her backpack, folding it open.

Harry came to stand next to her: 'Erm Hermione, I don't want to be a bother or anything, but how will that map help us, if we don't even know where we are?'

She looked at him and smiled: ' because it's not just any map.'

Harry looked at it with a frown; at first glance it looked like a regular map of the United Kingdom but when Hermione touched it with her wand he noticed something. The map gave a light glow and very small dots appeared on it.

Ron had joined them, his eyebrows rose when he saw it too: 'what's that?'

Hermione smiled: 'that's us.'

The boys took a closer look and saw the dots more clearly, they had different colours and every name of their small fellowship was written next to one of them.

'Blimey! How did you do that!'

Hermione shrugged: 'I just took a regular map of the United Kingdom and enchanted it. It is kind of like the Marauders' Map but still different. This one just shows us where we are, but that's not all.'

She tapped it again and the map zoomed in on the area where they were now; showing every single road and almost every single tree near them.

The others were also looking from behind her shoulder and George let out a low whistle: 'very handy.'

'Well, it can help. I've made one of every country.'

They all looked at her, mouths wide open: ' _every_ country?'

'Yes, Neville. I mean Draco could be anywhere, right? So I thought it better to be prepared.

Fred nodded, giving a small chuckle: 'you certainly are,' then he thought of something: 'hey, since that map can show us where we are, can't it or any of them, show us where Draco is?'

Hermione's face fell: 'if it were only that easy... Believe me I've tried it already but nothing appears on it, even though I made it so it also shows his name. He must be protecting himself with many, strong protection spells,' She sighed, ' he is right to do that, especially since Death Eaters and snatchers and other helpers of Voldemort are looking for him. Maybe they are even looking for us.'

The others nodded in understanding and silence came down upon them. They were all processing that last thought.

George cleared his throat: ' so, erm, where are we?'

Hermione looked at the map: ' somewhere on the border between Devon and Cornwall. I suggest that we move along to Cornwall; Draco told tell me stories of his holidays in that county. He loved that place.'

'Okay let's go then...to which place in Cornwall are we going?'

Hermione thought about that and looked at the map again: 'well, this area here, the Bodmin Moors has a lot of forests. Maybe we should go there? Or more specifically to this area.'

'Right, please, lead the way.' Fred took one of Hermione's hands while George took the other. The others held on to one twin, creating a chain so that they could all apparate together.

Everyone nodded when they were ready and within seconds they had left Devon behind.

* * *

><p>The sun was setting and soon the orange and red colours of the sky were replaced by the dark blue colour of dusk.<p>

They were sitting around a fire; having a meal existing out of hot soup and some bread with butter.

They had stopped at a little shop two hours ago and had bought more needed food. Afterwards they had settled for a camp here, in one of the Bodmin Moors' forests. Since all of them were exhausted they had decided to make a quick meal throwing all kinds of vegetables and meat together with water in a casserole and hanging it above their fire.

All of them had helped and Hermione had to admit that they made good meals together.

A chilling breeze went past her; it had cooled down a lot since the late afternoon and the sky showed that rain was to be expected soon.

After they had cleaned all the plates and the casserole they made an overview of who should should keep watch. They divided themselves into pairs; each pair had to keep watch for an hour so that everyone at least got seven hours of sleep. Hermione and George were asked to be the first pair to keep watch, neither of them disagreed. But somewhere inside, Hermione knew that they were doing this in the hope that she could sleep through the rest of the hours and hopefully get a dream.

She swallowed; the last three nights had been dreamless and she was actually starting to worry that something might have happened to Draco. The previous times she had gotten flashes of him every single night. But those flashes were gone as quick as they came to her mind.

Hermione went as white as a sheet and she quickly let herself fall on the tree trunk near the fire; something must have happened to him!

George noticed her distress: ' Hermione, are you ok? You look a bit pale... very pale actually.' She looked at him with a wide, frightened expression in her eyes.

Concern was immediately written all over his face: 'what's wrong? Is there anything I can do to help you?'

Hermione shook her head: 'no, I wish you could but no. I just think that something is wrong with Draco.'

'Why do you think that?'

'Well, I... I haven't had a dream about him lately, not even a single flash. And I used to have those before... but now when I need our connection to come through, it doesn't. And I know that you are counting on me to get one, so we have a clue of where to look for him... I'm sorry that I couldn't get one...' The upsetting feeling made her body shake.

'Shh, calm down.' George took one of her hands and tugged it gently so she was looking him in the eyes.

'Believe me, we aren't expecting something like that of you. I admit that it would be good if you had a dream about him but just so you could feel more at ease; so that you could know that the connection is still there. And it is, I know it is.'

'How do you know?'

'Do you have any bad feeling in your heart that something is wrong? That something has happened to him?'

Hermione thought about that, focussing on her true feelings from inside: 'no I don't, but there should be...'

George shook his head: 'no, it is just you mind telling you that. But you'll find the real answer in your heart. Believe me: you would _feel _itif something was wrong.'

'Do you really think that?'

'Yes, and it is true. Listen, you have to know that we are all here to help you; we don't judge you if you don't have any dreams, we trust you and no matter how long this search will take, we will be with you every step of the way. And someday soon you will find Draco again, trust me.'

A small smile appeared on her lips: 'Ok, I will. I do.'

George smiled back at her: ' that's a good girl.'

She gave him a light slap but was distracted by a rustling sound next to her. It seemed to have come from her right. She squeezed her eyes; trying to see what it was.

But it was too dark; maybe she'd imagined it?

She shook her head and turned back to George; trying to focus on their conversation. Then another rustling sound could be heard but it didn't come from her right.

No, this time it came from above her.

Hermione looked up in the branches of the tree in front of her, but also nothing out of the ordinary could be seen.

Another third rustling came from her right again and she snapped her head into it's direction. A low hissing rose up from the bushes, followed by two yellow dots that could be nothing else but eyes.

She nudged George's arm and pointed towards the bushes: ' can you hear that?'

'Huh?' He looked into the direction she was pointing out:' no I can't hear anything.'

Hermione listened closer but the hissing had stopped. The branches of the tree shook and now George's head also snapped towards it: 'ok, but I definitely heard that.'

Right at that moment a flash of wings appeared and disappeared again.

'It's ok, I think it was nothing more than a bird.'

Hermione had been holding her breath and now slowly released it, freeing all the tension she had felt: ' yes, just a bird.'

'Hey guys, we are here to take over watch.' Harry and Ginny had moved in front of them, at seeing their expressions the last one asked: ' is everything ok?'

George stood up: 'yes, we just had a bird to keep us company, that's all.'

A confused expression came over the couple's face. Hermione followed George's example and smiled at them: 'it's ok, it's nothing.'

'Come on, let's go back to the tents, Hermione.'

'Right.'

But as they were walking towards the tents Hermione couldn't resist looking over her shoulder once more; watching the bushes and the tree.

A shiver went down her spine and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't shake off the uneasy feeling that someone or something was watching them.


	9. Chapter 9

**AN:**** Hey everyone!**

**Chapter nine is finally finished :).  
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**I would like to thank Moonlightrose1992 and Got a Secret for their reviews, thank you! ^^  
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**Those really make my day :).**

** I hope that you'll like this next chapter :).  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter nine<strong>

Hermione crawled into her sleeping bag on one of the beds, and pulled it tightly around her.

A shiver went through her; it had certainly cooled down a lot and it seemed as if it was more windy outside too.

She shook her head and tried to close her eyes and fall asleep.

But there was constantly something that interrupted her from falling into the world of slumber: if it wasn't the chirping sound of the crickets then it was the sound of raindrops; falling on the upper canvas of the tent.

Her eyes travelled to the bed on her right. She sighed when it was clear that Luna had no trouble sleeping, at all.

The annoying feeling increased and her thoughts went back to what she had felt earlier; that haunting feeling that something or someone was out there, watching their every move.

'O come on Hermione, just go to sleep already.' She whispered to herself while turning around on her back.

She tried to push the thought of a spy to the back of her mind and in trying to calm down a little she focussed on her breathing.

After ten minutes it must've worked; her eyelids became heavier and soon she slipped away in a dream.

* * *

><p><em>From the instant that Hermione opened her eyes and took in her surroundings she knew that she was dreaming. <em>

_A cool, salty air caressed her cheeks and the movements of waves smashing against rocks could be heard. _

_It was clear that she was standing outside. _

_She raised her head towards the sky and saw that hundreds of stars were twinkling brightly._

_Her eyes moved to the ground and she was surprised to see herself standing on a small patch of grass. _

_She frowned and took in the rest of the surroundings._

_Large, flat grey stones were placed upon each other; some of them even formed a very high wall, others formed a smaller one._

_It all looked very old._

_Realisation hit her when she looked once more at the ground; at some places it was covered with smaller stones, at others there was nothing but grass or weeds. _

_She was standing in some kind of ruin; one of an old castle._

_Hermione stretched out her hand and touched one of the cool stones of the walls. She let out a gasp when a feeling of power and old age went through her. It was practically vibrating off it._

_Her eyes travelled to the left and she swallowed. _

_She walked in that direction and had to pull back her left foot; one more step and she would have fallen into the sea._

_Hermione realised that the ruin was standing on a large, high rock that was partly situated in the sea_

_It was built on a peninsula._

_She looked down and could see the sea waves; rolling slowly against the foot of the rock._

_It was quite a nice view actually, but erm... did she mention that it was very high above the sea?_

_She quickly stepped back and let out a sigh; she had never been a big fan of heights, and together with flying it was one of her greatest fears. _

_When she couldn't see the bottom of the rock any more she decided to take a look around; after all, the dream had brought her here for a reason. Right?_

_A flutter of hope went through her heart: maybe she would even find some kind of evidence that Draco had been here?_

_Her joy became greater with her next thought: maybe he was still here?_

_Curious and full of hope she explored most of the old castle, making sure to wander far from the rock's edges. _

_She had searched through almost all the remnants of what used to be rooms, but no sign of Draco could be found. _

_Hermione was very disappointed and had almost given up hope. She just really wanted to see him again, she wanted to know if he was all right._

_There was still one room to go to. _

_When walking towards it Hermione felt some kind of electric feeling go through her. And with every step she took her heart started to beat faster and faster. _

_When she was just a few feet away from the last room, she could hear a whispering voice._

_'Please let me see her...'_

_A spark went through her when she identified the voice; it was Draco's._

_She went inside the room and saw him; sitting in a corner with his back against a wall._

_The dark circles under his eyes were almost black and his cheeks had fallen in a lot more than the last time she had seen him. His white skin was almost grey._

_She couldn't bear to see him like this and she immediately went to him. Hermione crouched down in front of him. His eyes were closed and his eyelashes were fluttering; it was clear that he was dreaming._

_'Please, just let me see her, let me see Hermione.'_

_She smiled a little and stretched out her hand to softly caress his cheek, whispering:' I'm here.'_

_Draco immediately opened his eyes and surprise and happiness were written within them: 'it's you!'_

_She beamed at him: ' yes, it's me, I'm here.'_

_He laid his hand over hers and softly pulled her fingertips to his mouth so he could kiss them._

_'How long have you been here?'_

_'A quarter of an hour, give or take.'_

_His grey eyes were penetrating and she blushed at all the love and passion that was vibrating off him. _

_'Hermione, I've been calling for you every night; hoping that we would meet again. But it has been so quiet...I haven't had any dreams over the past days... so, I thought... I thought something had happened to you.' A single tear rolled down his cheek and was soon followed by more of them._

_She could feel her own fears that had plagued her mind over the past days and before she knew it tears were also rolling down her cheeks._

_He stretched out his arms and pulled her in a hug, her head was lying on his chest and she could hear the steady beating of his heart._

_It was wonderful to feel him again and relief went through the couple at knowing that both of them were all right._

_She softly pulled away and moved over to sit next to him. Hermione laid her head on his left shoulder and Draco put his arms protectively around her. She closed her eyes for just a second and a relieved sigh escaped her lips._

_Draco put his lips by her ear: 'is everything ok?'_

_She opened her eyes again and looked straight into his: 'yes, everything is perfect... I have missed you.'_

_'I have missed you too, I can't express how happy I am right now to see my girl again.' _

_His lips found hers and a passionate kiss was shared between them and Hermione could feel herself smiling at the same time. _

_When they pulled away Draco was beaming and shook his head: ' I should have known that you would come for me. Even though I told you not to, so many months ago.'_

_She chuckled: 'Of course, you know that I can be as stubborn as a mule.'_

_'Well, that's a fact.'_

_Hermione playfully slapped his chest and looked up into the night sky, the fresh smell of the sea floated towards her again._

_'Draco? Where are we exactly?'_

_'We are in the ruins of a very old castle.'_

_She rolled her eyes: 'well, I got that; but in which castle? Are we even somewhere in the United Kingdom?'_

_'We are.'_

_Hermione kept looking at him, waiting for more information of their whereabouts. _

_When he noticed this ,he smiled: ' we are in the county Cornwall, near a little village called "Tintagel". It is situated on the west coast of this county.'_

_Her eyes went wide at hearing the county's name; it was the same county as where she and her friends had made camp._

_Oh please let her remember that when she woke up again. _

_But for now she just wanted to be in Draco's arms and learn more about this place._

_'What brought you here, Draco?'_

_He sighed and looked into the distance: ' As you know, me and my family used to come to this county yearly.'_

_A sad expression appeared in his eyes at mentioning his family and her own heart ached when she remembered the events of the past months._

_His mother had been kidnapped by Voldemort, she could return home if her son had fulfilled the assignment of getting the Death Eaters into Hogwarts._

_The Death Eaters had in fact been able to enter the castle but only because Lucius Malfoy had helped them; he desperately wanted his wife back. But later Draco's father regretted what he had done and in trying to safe her and Draco from the Dark Lord he had been hit by a spell and had lost his memory; he couldn't even recall that Draco was his son._

_Up until this day his mother was still taken captive and his father was being treated in St- Mungo's. _

_She laid her hand over Draco's as a comforting gesture. He did not look at her but took her hand in his._

_Draco cleared his throat and it was clear that he was trying hard to not burst into tears again. _

_' Anyway, I used to visit this castle a lot when I was a child. It was one of my favourite places whilst growing up.'_

_Hermione took a good look around again; processing everything: 'well, it is beautiful.'_

_Draco nodded and smiled, clearly taking a trip down memory lane: ' you know, local lore has it that the legendary King Arthur was born in this castle and that Merlin also visited this place a few times. There is even a cave further down, at the foot of this peninsula, called "Merlin's cave".'_

_'Really? So do you think the legend is real?'_

_'Yes, I mean, you can practically feel the magic vibrating off the walls. And Merlin was, and still is, a well-known Slytherin wizard.' _

_'That's true.'_

_'Yes, but I guess we will never know if he actually visited this place; which makes it all the more interesting.'_

_Hermione looked at the grey stones and coupled their power to the wonderful legend of King Arthur and Merlin; a story that had always fascinated her:'Yes, I couldn't agree more.' _

_Draco smiled and looked into her brown eyes: ' the place gets to you, doesn't it?'_

_She nodded and put her head back on his shoulder. _

_He responded by putting his head on hers. _

_They sat like that for along time; just taking in the peaceful sound of the waves and the chirping of a few crickets. _

_But then Draco stiffened; his eyes fixed on the distance. Hermione was alerted by his behaviour and felt the need to whisper: ' what's wrong?'_

_A strange sound rose up; like the neighing of a horse, but much lower and wild._

_'By Merlin! What was that?'_

_'I don't know, I've been here since last night and that sound just keeps coming back. More at night than during the day. But I don't think it's something threatening.'_

_'Are you sure about that?'_

_'Yes, I am.' He relaxed and leaned back against the stone wall. But then he stiffened again and turned his head into her direction:' you have to get back.'_

_Confusion was written all over Hermione's face:' wait, what do you mean?'_

_Draco seemed to become more nervous and a sign of panic went through his voice as he spoke:' you have to wake up! There is something wrong at the place where you are camping! You have to help your friends!'_

_'My friends? What are you talking about?'_

_He took her shoulders and turned her towards him: ' Hermione, you have to wake up! You have to protect yourself and your friends! I don't know what it is but I can feel that something is seriously wrong, that you ar ein danger!'_

_'But...that means that I have to leave you again! I can't, I won't!'_

_'You have to! Quickly! Before they hurt you!'_

_'But...'_

_He shook his head, vigorously: ' no! You have to be safe!'_

_Then she could feel that weird tug again; the sign that she was waking up._

_Right before she was pulled away from him she said: ' I will come for you! I will find you again and I will help your family! I promise!'_

_He gave her one final kiss and then she was gone. _

_Draco kept looking at the spot where Hermione had been standing a few second ago, he whispered: 'I know. But please, let her be safe.'_


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: ****  
><strong>

**Hey everyone!  
><strong>

**Wow it took a while but here is: the next chapter :).  
><strong>

**I would like to thank Moonlightrose1992 for the review and all of you who favourited and who is following this story.**

**It means a lot to me so thank you! ^^  
><strong>

**I hope you'll like chapter 10!  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter ten<strong>

Hermione shot up in her bed; her chest was rising and falling with every, heavy breath she took.

She looked around the tent and saw that both Ginny and Luna were there, sleeping in their beds.

She checked her watch; it was six o'clock in the morning.

Suddenly a loud rustling sounded from the right side of the tent, followed by a weird noise.

She stiffened and listened closely for anything else out of the ordinary, but nothing could be heard.

Hermione sighed and laid back down on her bed, but as soon as her head hit the pillow it seemed as if someone was walking circles around their tent.

She gathered all her courage and silently slipped out of the sleeping bag. When her feet hit the ground she tiptoed to the entrance of the tent; unzipping the flap.

Hermione peeked through the opening and saw that it was a wet, grey morning. Clouds were passing by above and there was something in the air that indicated that rain would be falling down soon.

Her eyes went over the other tents but there wasn't anything wrong. It was all very quiet.

Maybe a little too quiet.

She poked her head outside and took another look around. A few leaves were moved by the breeze and swept before her.

A frown appeared on her face and she wondered if she had still been dreaming when hearing the strange sounds.

Maybe she had just imagined them? Because there was clearly nothing outside besides the normal sounds of nature; waking up after a long night.

Hermione was about to pull her head back into the tent when a weird grunting noise rose up. Her head snapped to the left and there was something moving in the nearby tree.

Curiosity took the best of her and she wanted to check it out. One foot was already placed outside the tent but she hesitated when the warnings of Draco came back to mind.

What if there was something dangerous in the tree? Maybe she should get something to protect herself?

_A kind of weapon, yes, that's what she needed._

Her eyes went around the tent and fell on a particular object. She grabbed the saucepan and held it out in front of her.

_It may seem silly, but it was the best she got at the moment._

Slightly shaking, Hermione took slow steps towards the tree; alert and ready to strike out.

She looked into the branches of the tree but nothing could be seen. A sigh of relief escaped her lips.

Then a rustling came from the bushes on her right, something was coming at her. Without any hesitation she turned towards it and with her eyes closed, she took a swing with the pan.

'AW! BLIMEY!'

Her eyes opened with shock and she was looking straight into the pained face of Ron, who was bending double.

She dropped the pan immediately and went towards him: ' I am so sorry! I thought you were something else! I hope I didn't hit any crucial parts, did I? I'm am so sorry!'

Ron straightened up; his face had turned a bright red from trying to scream out another time. A chagrined expression came over his face:' it is all right! It is just my knee.' Another painful feeling shot through him: ' on second thought, it isn't all right! What the bloody hell were you doing!'

Hermione's cheeks turned red:' I thought something was coming at me, I've been hearing weird sounds ever since I woke up and thought it better to be prepared if something attacked me.'

'Well, know this: you were well prepared. Bloody hell! Where did you learn to hit like that?'

The red of her cheeks deepened: 'I am truly sorry... Wait here for a second.' She ran towards her tent.

'Yeah, like I am able to go somewhere, you turned me into a disabled man.' Another pain shot through his knee and he fell down onto the ground.

Hermione ran back towards her friend and took out her wand.

'I don't think that is going to work. I think you broke my knee or something.'

An annoyed expression swept over her face:' oh don't be ridiculous! I didn't hit you _that_ hard.'

'You don't know that! You weren't the one who received the blow!'

She firmly placed her hand on his knee, at which he cringed: 'sit still, Ronald!'

He did as he was told and after Hermione had said the right words a blue light shone out of the tip of her wand and into his knee. After a few seconds she stood up: 'there, all better.'

He frowned at her:' well, I'll believe it when I see it!'

Ron got up again and tried out his knee by jumping up and down: 'well, I don't know what you did but it works for me. Thanks.'

'You are welcome.'

'Anyway, you said you heard weird sounds? Coming from around us?'

'Yes! I could have sworn something was out here. Didn't you hear anything?'

But right after she had said that she remembered that Ron could sleep through anything. After all, she had to use an Aguamenti spell every time to wake him up.

Ron thought this through but shook his head: 'I didn't hear anything. Are you sure you didn't imagine it?'

'Yes, I am. I'm sure something was out here. George heard it too last night, when we were keeping watch.'

Her friend kept looking at her and an expression of doubt appeared on his face. She didn't miss that and knew that her friend wasn't telling her everything.

'You _did_ see or hear something, didn't you?'

He swallowed: 'no, of course not: you know me, I sleep through everything...'

Hermione gave him her best sceptic look and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

'Why are you looking at me like that?'

She turned her head a little to the left and kept looking at him with the same expression.

'Stop that! I didn't... oh I guess I can't fool you, can I?'

She shook her head and he let out a long sigh.

'O all right, but it's going to sound weird: I did, no I do, have the feeling that someone is watching us. Harry also felt it and told it to me before we fell asleep last night. But that's silly, right? I mean there is no one else around and otherwise I'm sure that you could have seen something on that map of yours, no?'

A pang went through Hermione: _of course! The map!_ She slapped her forehead: _how could I have forgotten to check that!_

She looked back at Ron who gave her an odd look: ' erm, everything all right, Hermione?'

'Yes! I'm fine! In fact that's brilliant Ron! I totally forgot about that! I'm going to check that map immediately! I conjured it so that it can also show us if something threatening is nearby!'

'Erm, right. So you hadn't thought about checking it yet?'

She ignored that last sentence and went back to the tent, with Ron on her heels.

Once she pulled the canvas aside something changed.

Somehow it had turned darker and it felt as if the air was loaded with electricity.

She looked up into the sky right at the same moment as Ron. The last one's eyes widened a little bit: ' wow, that's strange... it was light a few seconds ago...'

She frowned and immediately grabbed the map. She quickly pulled it out of the tent and laid it down on the grass.

'Can you see anything?'

She shook her head and moved her index finger all over the map, making sure she wasn't missing anything.

Right then a low rumble sounded on the horizon and it became darker and darker. The wind also made an appearance and moved the branches of the trees slightly.

Then they started to sway from left to right and a deafening sound filled her ears, followed by lightning.

A chill went through Hermione's body and the hairs on her arms stood up.

Raindrops were falling from the sky, one by one. A few seconds later the drops came down with a lot more strength.

The clouds seemed to be moving to one another, gathering; leaving her, Ron and the rest of the camp standing in pitch black darkness.

The rain changed into hail and came down upon them with force.

'Aw! Bloody hell! Aw!'

Hermione couldn't blame Ron for making sounds of pain. The hail was very painful and it felt as if silver bullets were raining down on them, almost piercing their tender flesh.

Another more terrifying lightning bolt cracked open the heaven above them, followed by a bone-chilling cry.

The tent flaps on the other side moved aside and the others were looking outside with terrified expressions on their faces.

Fred opened his mouth and yelled something at them. But with the wind rushing in their ears and the painful fall of hail they couldn't make out what he was saying.

Fred noticed this and after a few minutes he and the others had reached them:' what are you doing! Go inside that tent!'

Ron and Hermione did as they were told and rushed into it, the others right behind them.

Once inside the noise of hail falling on the canvas pained their ears. With horror Hermione pulled out the map from under her cardigan and looked at it again, hoping it wasn't too wet.

She sighed when she held it in her hands; it wasn't wet at all! Her protection spell against rain had worked! She had a short moment of happiness, but it changed back into dread as soon as she was aware again of the serious situation they were in.

'What in Merlin's name is happening!' Ginny jumped up, definitely scared.

Harry moved to her side and put his arm around her, trying to keep his own shaking body under control: ' it is nothing, just a small storm!'

'A small storm! It sounds like more of a terrible tempest!'

Another bone-chilling cry sounded from outside, followed by ten others.

'And what the bloody hell was that!' Panic went through Ron's voice and he was trembling from top to toe.

Hermione tried to concentrate on the map, her finger moving to their camping place.

She froze when she saw that at least twenty black dots were moving towards their names.

The letters right next to those dots flickered in a brilliant red, expressing that they were a great danger.

She looked more closely and could just make out the word _'Harpeia'._

Hermione was completely stunned: 'no, that is not possible!'

A piercing scream sounded and went over in a sharp screeching.

That confirmed it.

She fell down on her hands and knees, losing sense of where she was and wondering if this was all just a terrible nightmare or hard reality.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: <strong>

**I know, I know I am teasing all of you again :p .  
><strong>

** But don't worry, it won't be long now.**

**Because whoever or whatever has been following them will be revealed in the next chapter! :)****  
><strong>

**See you then! :p  
><strong>


	11. Chapter 11

**AN:  
><strong>

**Hi everyone,  
><strong>

**Wow, it has been a while, a very long while.  
><strong>

**I am very sorry for the late upload, but for the last five months I've been studying abroad and I have been very busy.  
><strong>

**Just so you know: I will not abandon this story, it could however be possible that the following uploads aren't that regular.  
><strong>

**Please forgive me? :)  
><strong>

**The next chapter turned out longer than the others: please see it as a late Christmas present from me to you :).  
><strong>

**I hope you'll like the next chapter! :)  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter eleven<strong>

'Hermione! Is everything ok?'

She looked at each of her friends' faces and vigorously shook her head: 'no, it's not ok. We have a major problem.'

'What do you mean?' Horror appeared in Neville's eyes, Luna immediately stood by his side and took his hand in hers.

'I second that!' Ron said, ' what is wrong?'

Another piercing cry filled their ears and the force of it sent all of them buckling through their knees; hands over their ears.

Hermione got up again and ripped the tent flap open. She just had to know if the map was right, if it was real.

Once she had poked her head outside the tent she was greeted by another scream and the flapping of wings.

The wind was rushing over the camping place and the hail came down with a lot more force.

Vague, dark shapes were flying around in the sky; circling lower and lower to the ground.

Hermione squinted her eyes to make out what they were; but with the hail coming down she couldn't get a clear vision of them.

Then one of the _things _crouched down on the ground, twenty feet away from her. She could make out the silhouette of the creature.

Hermione was in shock at the size of it; it was almost the size of a grizzly bear and it had large wings like a dragon. But those were covered in feathers instead of scales. On closer look she saw that it also had enormous claws as feet but its hands almost looked human; they had long, sharp, fingernails.

The creature turned its head to the left and its yellow eyes looked straight into Hermione's.

It's pupils were slightly dilated and there was a wild look in them

But then she realised something else; the creature's head was human!

It was the head of a woman with long, tangled dark hair.

_So it was true; it was the kind of creature she thought it would be. _

The 'woman' opened her mouth; exposing razor-sharp teeth. It screamed at her and soon the scream was followed by other screeching.

_So there are more of them..._

The creature moved in her direction, ready to leap at her. She immediately pulled her head back into the tent, pulling out her wand.

'We have to get out of here!'

Fred was the first who spoke: ' Hermione! What is going on!'

'They found us!'

Ron swallowed: 'who found us?'

'Creatures! Dozens of them!'

George walked towards her and placed his hands on her shoulders, his voice trembling:' Hermione, vague sentences won't help. What's out there?'

Hermione swallowed before answering: ' Harpies!'

Right at that moment a loud ripping sound could be heard. They snapped their heads in its direction and could make out a large claw; ripping through the canvas of the tent. A second creature followed the example of the first, followed by a third.

'Get out! Through the back flap!'

They all ran out of the tent and into the storm that was raging outside.

But Luna was a bit slower than the rest and screamed when she was taken down by one of the Harpies.

A loud cackling laughter sounded from the creature's throat. The Harpy brought one of her claws near Luna's head, ready to strike. She lifted it and brought it down with force.

'_Stupefy_!'

Right at the moment, when the claw had been just inches from Luna's face Neville cast a spell.

The Harpy was thrown back with a lot of force and lay motionless on the ground.

He immediately ran towards her and took her in his arms, trying to calm her down and protecting her with his body.

Other Harpies were landing all around them; forming a circle around them they couldn't escape from.

'What can we do, Hermione! There are too many of them!'

So many things were racing through Hermione's head, this always happened when danger was there.

Hermione picked out one of her thoughts: 'we must form our own circle! We must stand with our backs to each other. Come on!'

Everyone did as she suggested, ' now let's fight them off, the most effective spells will be Stupefy and the full-body bind! Afterwards we'll have to look for a chance to apparate!'

Everyone raised their wand, their bodies tense and ready to attack the horrid creatures. The last ones were circling around them, both sides were waiting for the other to make a move.

One of the harpies got impatient and flew straight in the direction of George.

'Stupefy!'

This was it, the cue for the other creatures to attack. They all flew at the circle of friends and a large fight broke out. Spells flew in every direction and high pitched cries together with the sound of the flapping of wings filled the camping ground.

Soon their circle was broken apart but they didn't leave each other's side.

Hermione had taken three of the creatures down when another sprang at her from behind. Right at the moment that she turned around her heart stopped, she thought she was going to die.

When the harpy's claws were just inches away from her face it fell down, as if it had all of a sudden turned to stone. Hermione looked up and saw George, who was just lowering his wand. Right then another harpy appoached him from behind, but Hermione was quicker. She raised her wand and yelled:'_Petrificus totalus!_'

The harpy fell down and George looked a little bit shocked. He looked back at her and nodded. A smile broke through on both their faces and they went back to fighting off the other harpies.

It was an intense fight and after what seemd like hours, the harpies finally started to thin out. There were only two left.

The friends bundled their powers and with one powerfull last spell the Harpies fell down.

It it became very silent.

It was still raining and the earth was covered in splatters of red liquid. Hermione looked around and was happy to see that every single friend was safe.

_But not unharmed._

Fred and George's faces were covered in cuts and they had a few painful looking bruises on their arms. Neville and Luna were all right, also having a few cuts which they were now healing for each other. Ron and Harry had a lot of bruises and were now helping Ginny, who had a nasty wound across her leg. The wound existed out of three lines right across her left shin. It was clear that she had known the power of a Harpy's claw.

Hermione looked at her own body and saw that her arms were covered in large cuts, she also had a stinging pain in her shoulder.

She aimed her wand on one arm and then on the other, after speaking the right words the cuts disappeared.

When everyone was healed they walked to the middle of the camping ground. Before Hermione could say ' we did it' she was pulled in one, big group hug. They were just so happy they had won, they had stood their ground and had bundled their powers.

They had survived!

Soon enough the whole group of friends burst out laughing and they were still congratulating and hugging each other.

'Well, well. Isn't this touching! Such a lovely sight for the eyes!'

Hermione froze at hearing that cold, male voice; coming from behind her. She let go of Harry and whipped her head around.

Eight men were standing in the bushes underneath one of the trees. The shadows of its branches covered their faces; she couldn't recognise any of them. Panic was starting to fill up her heart as she kept looking at them.

'Why the startled faces? You knew you would be found sooner or later.'

Fred was getting annoyed: 'you know, it is very rude to talk to people without introducing yourself!'

'Yeah, why don't you stop cowering in the bushes and show us your faces, if you are man enough that is!' George said.

'O aren't we touchy today, you two must be the real troublemakers of your little pack there. But if you insist,' the leader of the group stepped forward, followed by the others.

The shadows disappeared and their faces were crystal clear now. The leader looked at them and grinned,' you asked for introductions did you?' He bowed mockingly; loose hairs escaped from his brown ponytail and fell over his forehead, his icy, blue eyes never left the twins' faces.

'My name is Frigusius, and by Medusa it is a real honour to finally meet all of you.' His eyes moved from Harry to Ron and from Ron to Hermione:' especially the Golden Trio.'

A shiver went through the group of friends; there was something conspicuous in the way he spoke.

Ginny had moved to Hermione's right and whispered: 'I don't trust them, do you know who they are?'

Hermione shook her head; her brain was working like crazy, there was something familiar about those men, but what?

'You didn't answer our question, who are you or should we say what are you?'

At this all the strangers burst out laughing, the leader wiped a tear away:' you must be the Potter boy, the Boy Who Lived. Well, to answer yet another question:we are commonly known as Snatchers,' he looked at his watch nonchalantly and finished his sentence: 'but in a few seconds we will be your captivators.'

Then, as quick as a flash, the men moved to the friends and gripped their arms firmly. The last ones struggled against their grip but they were just too strong. Fred and George were the ones who fought the hardest, but the one man that was holding both of them just grinned without loosening his iron grip.

Frigusius moved slowly towards Hermione and brushed away a few strands of hair from her face. A devilish expression appeared in his eyes: 'well, so you are miss Granger, the Mudblood.'

Hermione looked straight into his eyes; trying hard to show no fear. He snickered: 'o one person at the Ministry of Magic will be very pleased if I bring you to her. Umbridge I believe her name was.' He lifted his wand and moved the sharp point of it over Hermione's neck, she yelped as a small cut appeared.

' Don't touch me!' She yerked her head to the other side, not once removing her eyes from his.

He smiled:'bind her, Gregor!'

The man holding her roughly pushed her onto her knees, the other men did the same with Harry and the others.

With one hand on her shoulder and the other waving his wand, Gregor spun a rope around her body.

Her friends were fighting against their own captivators, and when Fred spit his one in the face a fist punched him in the cheek. The struggles kept going on and Hermione couldn't stand it anymore: ' stop it! Leave them alone! What do you want from us!How did you even find us? '

Frigusius knelt down in front of her and smiled sweetly: ' we were given an assignment by some good old Death Eaters. Yes, riches will await us once we have brought you to the Ministry.' He looked up, misty-eyed. Then he spoke again: ' as for how we found you. Well, I guess your protection spells must have been a little off lately. And that for the smartest witch of her age, such a pity.' He shook his head. 'Well, either that or we found ourselves a little help.' He moved over to one of the Harpies and tapped its shoulder: ' wonderful beasties aren't they? They are good trackers too and have wonderful ears for listening to which protection spells are used.'

Joy filled Frigusius's voice as he thought of something else: ' for days we've been following you, waiting for a chance to strike... and here we are! We were finally able to captivate you lot!'

He moved in on Hermione again, dangerously.

She took advantage of this moment and kneed him hard in his lower stomach. He fell onto the ground, groaning with pain. The Snatcher holding her let go, in order to help Frigusius. Just like him the other Snatchers were taken by surprise and rushed forward to assit their leader. The ones who weren't that stupid held on to their prisoners but when Harry had the opportunity to kick his one in the shins, the others followed his example.

'Hurry! Everyone, come here!' Hermione called to her friends, once they were free.

'Hold hands, we have to be in Tintagel, let's go on three!'

They grabbed each other's hands and prepared to apparate.

'One, two , three!'

In a blink of an eye they were gone, leaving eight very confused Snatchers behind.

Hermione had miscalculated her landing, the ground was coming closer and closer to her face. But before she could hit it, two arms wrapped around her and pulled her on her feet again. She felt a little dizzy and held on to the person who had caught her.

'Hermione?'

Her head snapped up at the sound of that voice and when she looked at the person's face, two beautiful grey eyes were staring back at her.


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: **

**Hey everyone! **

**Once again I'm sorry for the late update, school has started again and it has been a little hectic.**

**It is still possible that the updates to this story will be quite irregular.**

**Once again I ask: please forgive me? :)**

**I hope you'll like the chapter! **

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter twelve<strong>

She didn't know how long she and Draco had been standing there, staring at each other; but to her it felt like an eternity.

The only sound she could hear were the last drops of rain falling on the earth and in the puddles.

Finallly he moved and traced the contours of her face with his fingertips.

'Is it really you?'

He closed his eyes as if he were praying, 'Please don't let this be another dream in which you disappear.'

Hermione shook her head and placed her hand on his cheek, 'It isn't. I am really here, Draco, and I will not disappear again.'

He opened his beautiful eyes again and they seemed to be filled with tears, 'Hermione!'

Within a second he pulled her into his arms and kissed her with all the love he had to give her. She kissed him back and let herself be carried away.

When he pulled her closer, someone in the distance cleared his throat. But this didn't stop them. Until the point where multiple persons cleared their throats, louder this time.

The lovers slowly pulled away from each other and looked at the other people behind them.

Draco took in the rest of the company and was speechless. He moved his mouth near Hermione's ear, whispering, 'What is going on?'

She faced him again with a bright smile, 'I guess you can say that they are your other rescuers.'

Draco just looked at her; confusion written all over his face, 'But don't they hate me? Why would they...'

Ron stepped forwards with a chagrined expression on his face, 'Don't get any ideas Malfoy. We came here to help Hermione, not you. And as for your question; it is true that we don't like you. As a matter of fact, we …'

Fred quickly stepped in front of his younger brother and pushed him backwards, 'What Ron is trying to say is: we came here to help you and Hermione out. I guess we were kind of...what is the word? Touched, I think, about your feelings for one another.'

George finished it for his twin, 'We don't hate you, Hermione kind of gave us an insight in who you really are and in your relationship with her. So we came with her.'

Draco was completely speechless; it felt strange hearing those words from the people who he had taunted once, who had despised him once . He didn't know how to react to that and only two words could leave his mouth, 'Thank you...'

It was silent for a little while before Draco found the right words, 'It means a lot to me that you did this, even if it was just to help out Hermione.' At that his eyes moved to Ron. 'That is very noble of you, it is clear that you care deelpy about her, just as I do. I... I am forever in you debt and I am truly sorry about everything that has ever happened between us, I...'

He was cut off by Harry's raised hand, ' It's ok, Malfoy. Let's just try to forget about all that, right Ron?'

Stubborness appeared on Ron's face when he grumbled, 'Maybe...we will see.'

Draco stepped forward and cautiously stretched out his hand in Ron's direction. After a few doubtful stares at the outstrechted hand the last one took it and gave it a very short shake.

Hermione couldn't believe what she was seeing and a spark of happiness enlighted her heart at the scene in front of her. She would have never thought she would see a day when Ron and Draco would make peace. Of course they would never be best friends or anything, but at least a white flag was raised by them as a consequence of mutual understanding.

George smiled, 'Ok, now that's settled... why don't we make camp and cast as many protection spells as possible?'

Everyone looked in the direction of Hermione; she sighed, 'You know, maybe we should all cast some spells instead of just me, no? I mean those Snatchers easily broke through mine, right?'

Draco's head snapped up, 'Wait, did you say Snatchers?'

Fred shrugged, 'Believe me, those fellows were nothing compared to the beastly Harpies.'

Draco's face went even paler, 'Harpies?'

George slapped his shoulder, 'Yes mate, you missed a lot.'

'But...I can't believe I'm so selfish...you all should go! As in now! I've got my own Death Eaters chasing me!'

Fred smiled a little, 'Still nothing compared to the Harpies and Snatchers put together... but close...'

'No, seriously! I can't put you all in danger!'

Hermione looked angry and marched to his side, 'Draco, we've already had danger chasing us since our first year at Hogwarts! And we were very aware of what the dangers might be in coming to find you. But we still did it, damn it! We already risked our lives for you! So you are not going to chase us away now we've finally found you! _I_ won't be chased away!'

'But...'

'No, I don't want to hear it! Trust me, we are prepared! We have a map that shows any enemies in our proximity... even though there was a little glitch with the Snatchers, which is fixed now!'

'But Hermione...'

'No!'

Someone let out a low whistle and George cleared his throat, 'Maybe we should give them a little privacy, no? Hermione, there is already a tent set up over there, why don't you go to it? Trust me, no sound will travel through the canvas; Fred and I took care of it.'

Hermione was still raging but Draco nodded a thanks to the twins and pulled his girlfriend with him.

Ron wanted to follow them but was held back by George, 'Just let them be ok?'

'But why? Who knows what he'll do or say to Hermione.' He tried to get away from his brother when Fred joined the weak struggle between them.

'Whatever happens in that tent, will stay in that tent. I'm pretty sure it won't be anything bad.' A knowing smile played around his lips.

When Ron caught the hint his cheeks turned red and he looked down at the ground.

'That's it brother, now help us with casting those protection spells.'

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><p>'No! I will not listen to that!'<p>

Hermione was pacing up and down within the tent; making wild movements with her arms, whilst trying to make a statement.

'There is no way that I'm leaving your side now I've finally found you again. I'm here now, so deal with it!'

Draco was sitting on the two-person bed, following his girlfriend's every move while trying to make his own point.

'You have to, when I allow you to be near me I am only luring the danger towards you.'

She looked at him and gave him a hard stare, he could swear he saw a fire raging in her eyes.

'How long has it been since you've last seen Bellatrix and her horde?'

Draco thought back, 'A month ago, I think.'

A small victorious smiled played around Hermione's lips, 'So if it has already been a month, how big are the chances that they will surround this camp tonight? So why should I go, if they haven't been able to locate you for that long?'

He opened his mouth to respond but couldn't think of anything to say, instead he swallowed, 'It's still not safe.'

Her eyes softened, 'I know, I didn't say it was. But so what? I mean I have been surrounded by danger ever since my first year at Hogwarts. I was in danger when I was travelling across the country to find you. I was in danger when the Harpies and Snatchers struck. And look,' she gestured at her own body, 'I am still alive, still safe and sound.'

'For which I couldn't be more grateful... but...'

The spark of anger returned in her brown eyes, 'No! Please, stop it! Look, either we can keep disagreeing about safety for which I am not in the mood. Or... we can stop agruing and just enjoy each other's company, just be together after our time apart!'

Draco smiled, 'O I sure have missed your temper...'

'I am serious!'

He stood up and walked towards her, placing his hands gently on her waist, 'So am I.'

He softy kissed her lips, and form the moment she felt that, she kissed him back. He slowly licked them, asking her to open her mouth, which she did immediately.

Their tongues teased one another and kneaded together. Draco soflty pushed her towards one of the wooden pillars which held the tent and moved his lips from her mouth to her left ear.

She willingly moved her head to one side, inviting him to kiss her neck. He chuckled and did what she asked. His lips left a tingling sensation behind on every inch of skin he touched; making her feel warm and fuzzy.

She tangled the fingers of one hand in his hair, while pulling his t-shirt upwards with the other; removing it quickly from his body.

Draco let out a soft moan as her fingers explored his upper body and wanted to do the same.

He removed her blue tank- top and let his hands roam over her soft stomach and back.

Her breathing became heavier as she whispered, 'God, I have missed you... so much.'

He looked her in the eyes, 'I might hope so, because I sure have missed you.' He lifted her up against the pillar, so her legs were wrapped around his hips. When he made small rocking movements against her body she gasped, and passion glowed in her eyes, 'I am so glad to see you alive and well.'

He smiled, 'same here. Not a day has passed that I didn't think about you.'

Hermione smiled at him, 'I have thought about you too, so many times I wished I could be near you again.'

He chuckled, 'Well, lets make your wish come true.'

She laughed and at that Draco took her in his arms and carried her towards the large bed; put up in front of the back canvas.

He laid her down on the satin sheets and pillows; _the twins had certainly thought about everything._

He slowly removed her jeans shorts and every other piece of garment, very slowly. Feeling his hands on her naked skin kindled a wonderful sensation inside her.

She was quick to help him remove everything from his own body and afterwards pulled him on top of her, which made him gasp.

Mischief appeared in Draco's eyes as he moved his hands slowly over her body; exploring every inch of it gently. Her body responded immediately and hungrily as she let her eager hands roam over his back in soft circles. Her touch excited him and he moved his hand upwards over her leg to her stomach. He bowed his head and left butterfly kissed all over it, making the heat that was buidling inside her unbearable.

She let out a moan and pulled him closer, ecouraging him by moving her hips against his own, very slowly.

His breath caught in his throat and his blood was racing as their hungry hands and bodies craved for more. Desire filled them up as he finally reached her centre.

Every kiss, every touch they gave each other burned their skin, heat was building up between them and they couldn't get enough of each other.

As Hermione's head rolled to one side a wonderful, passionate feeling went through them and they lost themselves into oblivion.

One thing was sure.

This moment of reunion would never be forgotten by them and would always have a special place in their hearts and memories.


	13. Chapter 13

**AN: Hey everyone!**

**I am sorry for the very late update, but it's finally here, the next chapter! :)**

**I would like to thank shine25, Moonlightrose1992, guest(s), Sparkle and for the nice reviews ( I am glad you like the story! :D ) and also everyone for following, reading, or adding this story! **

**Thank you! :)**

**Now, on to chapter 13 :) .**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter thirteen<strong>

The next morning, Hermione woke up to the sounds of birdsong. She slowly opened her eyes and blinked at the strong light of the sun, which shone through the canvas of the tent and lit up her surroundings.

Hermione was lying on her left side and could feel the light pressure of someone's arm; which was lying over her smiled and carefully turned over on her right side, so she could see the person to whom it belonged.

Smiling, she kept looking at Draco; who was still sleeping. His face was relaxed and a peaceful smile was colouring his features. She brought her hand to his face, to softly caress his cheek. Right after she had done that Draco gave a small sigh and whispered her name.

His grey eyes opened slowly and his smile became wider when he clearly saw her face.

'Good morning...'

She kissed him and said, "The same to you. Did you sleep well?"

A wicked smiled appeared on his face, "Well... we didn't exactly sleep much, now did we?"

She playfully slapped his arm, "Well, I didn't hear you complain back then."

"Of course not! I enjoyed every second of it..."

She laughed, "Stop it!"

Draco grinned, "Never!" And within a second he had moved on top of her and was kissing her tenderly. When he pulled back he kept staring at her, smiling the entire time.

"What is it?" She asked.

He caressed her cheek and kissed her again, "Well... I just can't believe that we are finally together again. All those months... I didn't think of anything else but being with you again. You know, you were the one thing that kept me going, that kept me fighting and helped me to escape from _them_. Back then I wouldn't have believed that I would ever see you again. I thought that you would only exist in my memories and that I would... pass away without seeing your face again. So now that I am seeing you...I have difficulty believing that it is nothing more than another dream... for my wishes have been answered."

Hermione ran her hands gently through his hair and pulled him against herself.

"Trust me, this isn't a dream. It is real. We found each other again."

She could hear the laughter and mischief in his voice, when he said, "Well, you'll have to do something more to make me believe that..."

So she pulled his face closer to hers and from the moment their lips met, they lost themselves in a long, deep, passionate kiss.

After they had pulled away, Draco was breathing heavily, "Oh yes. Now I believe you."

She laughed and said, "I think we should get up, the others will be awake soon."

He pouted but then a wicked smile appeared on his face, "But I can't hear anything yet. So maybe they are all still sleeping... and if that were the case...well, then we could stay in bed for a little bit longer, no?"

But right at that moment a voice sounded from outside, it was Fred's, "Erm, Hermione? Draco? I am terribly sorry to disturb your supposed fun but something important has happened, that both of you should know about."

"Yes, hurry up now would you?" And that was Ron who, shortly after he had spoken, let out a grunt. One of the twins' must have punched his arm or something.

"Ok, we will be there in a few minutes!" Hermione called. She looked at Draco and smiled a bit, "Sorry, we will have to 'stay in bed' some other time."

Draco sighed, "Oh well, but you must know that there will be a definite rain check, ok?"

She rolled her eyes, "Yes yes, and something tells me you will definitely remind me of it later."

He winked, " You bet I will."

They left the comfortable bed and went around the tent to gather their clothes together. While they were donning them on Hermione remembered something and pondered if she should ask him about it or not.

Draco must have noticed it and while putting on his shirt he asked, "Is there something you wish to ask me?"

She hesitated, "Well yes...but I just don't know how to ask you about it..."

"Just ask me, you know that you can ask me anything."

"Well, I was just wondering... have you heard something about your mother or father in the past months?"

Draco's expression of happiness was immediately replaced by sadness after hearing that and shook his head.

"The last time I looked into it, they were both in the same situation as all those months ago."

She nodded and walked towards him to give him a hug. She could understand his sadness and worry, for his parents were both stuck in a grave situation.

Narcissa Malfoy was after all still being held hostage by Voldemort. Upon thinking about his father, Lucius Malfoy, a terrible feeling filled her from top to toe. She would never forget how a spell of his had backfired while he had been protecting both her and Draco from Voldemort. After that had happened he couldn't even recall that Draco was his son... so he had been carried away to St-Mungo's.

When they pulled away she quickly kissed his lips before he took her hand and led her outside.

* * *

><p>When they arrived by the other tents everyone greeted them with stiff smiles. There was a feeling of tension and nervousness in the air, making both Draco and Hermione aware that something was up.<p>

"Is there something wrong?" She asked.

They all nodded in unison, but no further explanation followed.

"Well... isn't anyone going to explain to us what happened? " She asked, looking at each of her friend's faces.

"Oh...uh... right. Well, Professor Dumbledore has paid us a visit." Harry said.

"Yes, and he had important news for all of us." Ron explained.

Hermione and Draco nodded, indicating that they should continue the story.

Harry picked it up again, "He told us that Voldemort is making another move to take over Hogwarts, together with his Death Eaters. Apparently a lot of creatures, like trolls and so many others have sided with him. Professor Dumbledore said that they'll be attacking Hogwarts in a week or two, or even in a few days."

Draco and Hermione had been listening intensely to every word he had said. A slight expression of shock was colouring their features.

"Oh, that's not all. Professor Dumbledore has found out a lot about Voldemort. Apparently he split his soul many years ago, which made him as good as immortal, and put each piece in an object; named Horcruxes. Professor Dumbledore has found most of them already, but not all."

Ron nodded and continued, " He asked us to look for the others and to destroy the ones he already found. You see, if we destroy each object with a piece of Voldemort's soul locked in them we can weaken him and maybe even kill him."

Hermione shook her head, "Wait, so professor Dumbledore asked us to look for the other... Horcruxes and destroy them?"

They nodded, " Yes, that's about it."

"This is a lot of information, guys..."

"Yes, we couldn't agree more. So, where do we start?"

Hermione bit her lip, " I don't know... It is clear that we have to help the professor find those Horcruxes... Didn't he give any information about where to find them?"

George nodded hesitantly, "Well, he did give us some clues...vague ones, of course. But hey, it is something. He also said he would contact us whenever he finds new clues."

"Yes, so there is no time to lose. We should pack immediately and start our search." Harry said.

Draco nodded but Hermione just stared at her friends, it was clear that she was thinking things through. After a few more seconds she shook her head, " Would you mind if Draco and I would join you on the search a day later?"

Her friends didn't believe their ears and they all stared at her in total confusion.

Ginny was the first to speak, "What do you mean, Hermione? Why would the two of you join us later?"

Hermione hesitated a little before saying, " There is just a place that Draco and I have to go to."

Draco looked at her in bewilderment, "There is?"

She nodded and continued talking, "It will only take a day, probably even less. I will leave the map with you so it can help you if you want to reach us."

Her friends regarded her in silence for a few seconds before one of them spoke.

"What you have to do first is important, am I right?" Harry asked.

Hermione just nodded, "It is."

"All right, I think that we can manage a few hours without you." Harry smiled and soon every one of her friends pulled her into a hug. All of them also shook hands with Draco.

When it was Luna's turn to hug her, the first one spoke, "I think I know what you are going to do. It is very nice of you and a good decision."

Hemione smiled, " Thank you." She then moved over to Draco's side and took his hand in hers. Right before they were about to apparate George spoke, "Please be careful, both of you, and we wish you the best of luck."

Hermione nodded, "Don't worry, we will be careful. Please be careful as well and good luck to all of you! We will see you soon."

"So where are we going?" Draco asked her.

She smiled, " You'll see." And within a second they disappeared from sight.


	14. Chapter 14

**AN: ****Um hello everyone!**

**Wow... it's been a long long time hasn't it... Sorry about that!**

**Well... before I let you read the chapter, there are a few things about this story I would like to clarify first. In this fanfic I've changed the events of the search for the Horcruxes, I've changed them because it would suit my fanfic better this way. Also, Dumbledore is still alive!**

**I hope these changes won't bother all of you too much! :)**

**Anyway, this story hasn't been abandoned. I will finish it but the updates could be very irregular and there may be long periods of time between them.**

**Plus: I don't own Harry Potter! All the credit goes to J.K. Rowling! :)**

**Anyway, I hope you'll still like the story! **

**Chapter fourteen**

A few seconds later, Hermione and Draco appeared at their destination. They took a minute to ground themselves; waiting for the usual dizziness, after apparating, to disappear.

Draco looked around and realised that they were standing in a small alley. Traffic noises could be heard in the distance, there was the roaring of engines and the sound of several car horns.

The air around them was also thicker and less pure than it had been back at there camping place.

So, there was no doubt that they were somewhere in a large city.

Draco looked at her, a little bit unsure, "Where are we exactly?"

Hermione smiled at him, "We're somewhere in London."

She could see that he felt a bit uncertain, but mostly he seemed confused.

Then she looked behind her and took his hand in hers, "Do you trust me?"

His eyes stared straight into hers as a small smile appeared around his lips, "Do you even have to ask that?"

She laughed and pulled him with her to the end of the alley.

Soon they found themselves in front of a red-bricked department store. It looked old and abandoned.

Draco frowned and wondered what they were doing in front of this building. His eyes moved towards the name that was painted on the outside wall.

It read: _Purge and Dowse, Ltd. _

Draco's grey eyes widened and he could have slapped himself for not recognising this place immediately.

Then he swallowed, "Hermione... why did you bring me to St. Mungo's?"

She walked in front of him and gently pulled his chin down so he would look at her.

"I think you know why..."

He wanted to nod, but at realising something else, he violently shook his head.

"We shouldn't be here! It's too open, too obvious! We should go! Right now!"

She frowned, "Draco, calm down. I know that those Death Eaters are after you, but that doesn't mean they'll be here right now."

"You can't know that! For all we know they've put spies in here as well! Just like they did at Hogwarts last year!"

Hermione placed her hands on either side of Draco's face, hoping to soothe him a little bit.

"Draco! Look at me!"

He did, he looked straight into her eyes as she continued, "What you're saying could be true, but I highly doubt it. This is a hospital, for the magical community if I may add. Hence it'll be thoroughly protected with all kinds of charms that even I may not know about. Plus, professor Dumbledore has definitely made sure that this hospital is safe as well. Please trust me, for I think that this might the safest place in the country at the moment!"

She frowned, "Well, after Hogwarts that is."

He wanted to contradict everything she'd said, but before he could make any sound she placed her finger on his lips.

"No, don't even try to argue with me. You deserve this, Draco. After all you've been through, you deserve to know how your father is doing."

Draco nodded but said, "I still don't think this is a good idea though..."

But Hermione wasn't listening to him any more. She grabbed his hand and pulled him towards a dirty shop window.

Hermione cleared her throat and spoke to the mannequin behind it, "Um... hello. My name is Hermione Granger and this is Draco Malfoy. We wish to visit a patient here, Lucius Malfoy."

The mannequin nodded its assent and they climbed through the window.

Once inside Hermione gasped at the size of the reception area. Sometimes magic could still amaze her, it was wonderful what it could do.

Draco took her hand in his and nodded, coming to terms with the fact that she wouldn't let him go away now.

They walked up to the woman behind the counter, who smiled at them, "Welcome to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, how may I help you today?"

Hermione spoke, "Hello, I am Hermione Granger and this is Draco Malfoy. We would like to visit one of your patients. A man by the name of Lucius Malfoy?"

The woman's eyes widened, "So he was right... Albus Dumbledore told me you two would come here sooner or later."

Her eyes shot to Draco and then back to Hermione, "Mister Malfoy can be found at the Janus Thickey Ward on the fourth floor. Once there, our Healer Miriam Strout will help you further."

Hermione nodded, "Thank you."

After Draco had followed her example, they set off to the fourth floor. As they reached the top of the stairs, a Healer came towards them.

"Hello, miss Granger and mister Malfoy, was it?"

The couple nodded and smiled at her.

"I'm Miriam Strout, the Healer in charge of the Janus Thickey Ward. I've been told you came to see mister Lucius Malfoy?"

Draco nodded again, "Yes, if it wouldn't be too difficult that is..."

Hermione could hear the tremble in his voice, she suspected he was nervous to see what state his father was in... Last time Lucius Malfoy couldn't even recognise his own son.

The Healer in charge shook her head, "No, it isn't difficult at all. Actually, I'm glad that someone is here to see him..."

Hermione frowned, "Do you mean that we are the only visitors he'll have or has had?"

The Healer nodded, "Apart from Albus Dumbledore, you're his only visitors yet, yes."

Draco's eyes widened, "Has professor Dumbledore been here often?"

"Yes, he comes in from time to time. Twice a month at least."

This brought a smile to Hermione's lips. Even though Draco didn't show it, she knew he was glad to hear this as well.

Miriam Strout smiled and beckoned another Healer towards her, "Roisin, could you please bring miss Granger and mister Malfoy to Lucius Malfoy's room?"

The young Healer nodded and smiled at the couple, "I'm Roisin Wytchwood. Please follow me."

Hermione and Draco walked behind the Healer to a room with six beds. The patients were all present. Some were sitting in the armchairs, but most them were lying in their beds.

They stopped by the bed near the window, a man with long blond hair and grey eyes was lying in it.

The young Healer spoke, "Mister Malfoy? There are two persons here to see you... One of them is your son..."

When the couple had moved closer, Hermione suppressed a gasp at seeing the state Lucius Malfoy was in.

His face was extremely pale and his cheeks had fallen in. His eyes had a dull colour and black circles were present beneath them. He was also staring at the ceiling and hadn't reacted when hearing the Healer's announcement.

It was clear that the person in the bed was only a shell of mister Malfoy's former self.

She looked at Draco and saw that his eyes had grown wide, a sadness of the deepest kind was also visible in them.

When she saw this, she immediately took his left hand in her right one and gave it a squeeze.

His grip tightened and he drew her closer to his side, kissing the side of her head gently.

When they had pulled away, Hermione said, "I shall leave you two alone now."

Draco nodded, "Okay..." Then he lifted his head and looked at her whilst saying, "But, please... don't go too far... I might need... well... you know."

Hermione did know what he meant, "You have my support... Call me if you need me, okay?"

He nodded, "Thank you..."

She smiled at him and moved to a respectable distance from Lucius's bed. From there she could see how Draco sat down on the chair next to the bed and carefully took his father's hand in his.

Hermione had to admit that she felt a little bit sad as well, mostly because of seeing Draco like this, but also because of what'd happened to mister Malfoy.

After all, he had lost his memory and seemingly his spirit right after he'd saved her and Draco from the Dark Lord's attack... when a spell had backfired.

"Are you okay, miss Granger?"

Hermione looked up and saw that it was Roisin who'd spoken.

She smiled and nodded at the young Healer, rubbing her eyes which had been filling with tears.

The young woman's eyes saddened, "Yes, it's always quite emotional to see someone who's in the state, mister Malfoy's in."

Hermione swallowed, "Yes. Could you...tell me, how he... he's doing? Has there been any change since... well..." She found herself unable to finish her sentence, but the Healer understood her.

"I'm afraid not. Ever since he was brought in, he's been in the same state. He hasn't worsened, but he isn't getting better either. He hasn't reacted to anyone since he came here and we've never heard him speak before..."

Hermione swallowed again, "Will he ever get better?"

Roisin looked at her and nodded, "He will... But it'll be a very slow process. It could take at least three years before he'll be able to remember things again."

Hermione's eyes widened, thinking about what this information could do to Draco, "Oh no..."

She hung her head as she sat down on a nearby chair, "That is terrible..."

The young Healer put her hand on Hermione's shoulder, "I know that this is distressing, but I must tell you that it'll take _presumably_ three years..."

Hermione looked at Roisin as the last one continued, "We've had some cases already in which the patient gained his memories again within a month or, more miraculous even, within a week. In those cases, the patients pulled through it that fast because of the support of their families, who sat with them and retold some of the mutual memories."

At hearing that explanation, Hermione was able to breathe again more easily, "So, that could also happen to mister Malfoy then?"

The young Healer nodded and gave her a smile, "Yes, it can. So, please, don't give up any hope yet."

Hermione smiled at the kind Healer and nodded, "Thank you, we won't."

Roisin smiled back at her, taking an intake of breath to say something else, but before she could do this three persons stormed inside the room.

The young Healer looked up, "Excuse me! This is a room of recovery! No running allowed!"

Hermione looked at the three troublemakers. Her eyes widened as she recognised them, "George, Luna and Neville! What are you doing here?"

George spoke, "Professor Dumbledore sent us here! You and Draco have to come with us, as in right now!"

Draco stood up and took his place next to Hermione, saying,"Why? What's happened?"

Neville continued, " There are Death Eaters on their way to here!"

Hemione swallowed, "What!"

Luna nodded, "The headmaster told us that you two would be here. Somehow he knew that they are on their way from some Aurors he's placed among them. They are coming in order to catch Draco."

Right then, a ruckus could be heard from the door and from the outside.

Hermione walked to the window and looked through it and saw the Death Eaters. She recognised Bellatrix immediately.

Roisin was about to say something but George was quicker and talked to her, "Don't worry! Professor Dumbledore has called some extra Aurors to defend St. Mungo's! They'll be downstairs again already."

She nodded, "Okay, now you better go! Go through the back exit and apparate instantly when you are outside."

They nodded and started to run.

Right before they exited the room, Hermione could see that Draco looked behind him for one more time.

She swallowed, hoping that he would soon be able to be with his parents again.


	15. Chapter 15

**AN: Hey everyone!**

**So, here's the next chapter of "A Race for Love". Only one or two chapters to go now!**

**I hope you'll like it! :)**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter fifteen<strong>

Hermione was standing in front of a window, looking outside.

The sun was rising in the east, marking the beginning of a new day.

A new day that would be filled with dread, fear and tension all over again.

It was the second of May and the weather couldn't have been any nicer.

However, it seemed as if enormous dark clouds were slowly gathering all around the castle.

It wouldn't be long until Voldemort and his followers would make a final move to attack Hogwarts.

She knew that, for it had been announced merely a week ago.

A few of the undercover Aurors that professor Dumbledore had placed among the enemy had come bearing that news themselves.

No wonder then that most of the students and teachers had been quiet over the past week. All of them were nervous about what the attack would bring.

Or more importantly, nervous about _when_ it would take place.

Since they had no idea about this, all of them had been a little bit on edge. They would be startled whenever someone dropped something, they moved in groups, most couldn't even sleep and stayed up for the entire night; alert for something to happen.

Of course the professors had noticed this and thought it better to help the students take their mind off it. They had proposed that the students could help them with the preparations for battle. This included everything from having extra classes for practising defensive spells to gathering more allies.

Suddenly, footsteps sounded from behind her; coming closer and closer. When that person placed his hands on her shoulders, Hermione instantly knew that it was Draco.

He brought his lips near her ear and whispered, "Is everything all right?"

She nodded but kept looking through the window, straight at the horizon. It was as if she expected to see the movement of Voldemort's army any second now.

"Hey...", he gently turned her around and softly lifted her chin with his finger.

They were now standing face to face and looked each other in the eyes. Worry was written both in his grey ones and in her brown ones.

Then Draco took a shaky breath and said, "It's not all right is it..."

Hermione shook her head, "I have been thinking about the same thing ever since we escaped from St- Mungo's..."

He nodded, "So have I... they will come soon I think."

She remained quiet for a few seconds, biting her lip. Draco was certain of it that she was thinking about what had happened a year earlier.

A sadness was written in her eyes as she spoke again, "Draco, I'm wishing that it will not be the same like last year...but somehow I have a feeling that it will be ten times worse this time. Only thinking about the lives that were lost back then makes me feel miserable... So many of them had been first years too..."

"Shhh," He stroked her hair whilst trying to calm her down a little bit, "It will be all right..."

"No! You don't know that for certain! I'm so afraid to lose you or my friends and family...I can't even think about what it..."

Her sentence was lost when he put his finger on her lips,"You won't lose the ones you love... I'll make sure of that."

Hermione was about to protest again but he was quicker, "Do you remember what I told you last year? Before the battle?"

She nodded and closed her eyes as the memory came to mind, "You said we wouldn't leave each other's side, that we would protect and help one another until the very end."

He smiled, "Exactly, just like last year I'll stand by you and won't let them harm you. I'll protect you with my life, Hermione."

"So will I, I will never let you face them alone. I will fight with everything I have to protect you as well. I won't let them tear us apart for a second time!"

After hearing that he pulled her close and put his arms around her. It was a wonderful, warm hug. Hermione clung to him a bit more, not wanting for it to end and emphasising the fact that she would always be by his side.

They would never let each other go.

As they pulled back, both of them let out a satisfied sigh.

Draco smiled as he gently pushed away a few strands of hair from her face, "Are you feeling better now?"

She smiled at him and nodded, "A lot better. I'm still a bit anxious though, but a lot less than before."

He grinned, "Oh yes, I still have the magic touch..."

Hermione rolled her eyes at him, "Okay, I guess you do have any idea how ambiguous that sounds."

A half – smile appeared on his lips, "Oh I sure do..."

She scoffed and playfully slapped him on his chest. After he pretended that she'd hurt him, they laughed.

Soon though, he became a little bit more serious again, "So, guess who returned an hour ago from their last Horcrux hunt?"

Relief immediately filled her from top to toe, "They're back?"

He nodded, "Yes, they are probably having breakfast in the Great Hall now."

She smiled, "Well, then we should go and see them, don't we?"

He nodded and offered her his hand, she took it without hesitating. And after giving each other another smile they went to see her friends in the Great Hall.

They arrived at the large oak doors and went straight inside.

Hermione's eyes travelled through the Great Hall, in search of her friends.

She was struck at how little students were in the Hall, remembering that many students had been ordered by their parents to come home, where it was safer than at Hogwarts.

She spotted four of her friends at the table that was once known as the Gryffindor one.

As she walked towards them, she noticed that most students were sitting at the tables of houses they didn't belong to, for it didn't matter any more where you'd been sorted.

All of them were in this war together.

Hermione sat down next to George, with Draco on her other side, saying, "I'm so glad to see you all unharmed!"

Ron, Harry and the twins smiled at her, Fred saying, "Oh please,we are way too clever for those stupid Death Eaters... "

George nodded, "Yes, the can't harm us that easily... We're always prepared!"

"However, it's always wonderful to be back here though..." Harry said.

She smiled, "Oh I can believe that..." Then her face became serious again,"So, how did it go?"

"Well, it was quite though sometimes. We ran into those Snatchers again..." Ron grimaced.

Hermione's eyes widened, "The ones from our encounter with the Harpies?"

Harry nodded, "Yes, but we managed to outsmart them, so nothing to worry about."

"And were you able to do what professor Dumbledore asked of you?"

George grinned, "Of course we did!"

She smiled, "I never doubted you for a second."

Draco smiled as well, "Yes, well done guys."

The four of them nodded and gave him a smile as well. She was glad to see that their relationship with Draco was starting to get better. They still had to keep working on it, but at least they were getting somewhere.

Then she noticed the dark circles under her friends' eyes and said, "Maybe you should try to get some rest?"

Harry shook his head, doubt written all over his face, "I don't think we'll be able to do that... but we'll try."

The others nodded and after telling each other goodbye, they went off to try and get some sleep.

Draco put his arm around her, "It's great that they didn't ran into too much trouble, isn't it?"

She nodded, "Yes, I couldn't be more grateful for that."

He smiled at her, "Shall we eat some breakfast first and then go and help the professors and students with the battle preparations?"

"Yes, let us do that."

The rest of the day passed very quickly. Both of them had been busy all the time, only taking breaks for lunch and dinner. They had attended two extra classes in defending themselves against the Death Eaters and dangerous beasts and had helped with putting up defences.

The atmosphere around and in the castle was a little less tense.

But all of that changed with the falling of darkness, when all of them had to gather in the Great Hall and an Auror had come to them to bring the news that Voldemort's army had arrived.

Right after hearing this news, encouraging shouts had filled up the evening. The first signs of the upcoming battle.

While Hermione was standing outside, facing the other army in the distance, she grabbed Draco's hand and gave her friends encouraging looks and smiles.

But all she could think about was the danger that was lurking at the horizon and the safety of her friends.

As the opposite army approached, real realisation hit her, telling her that it had begun.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter sixteen**

"Draco! Look out!"

As he turned around, Hermione was just in time to backfire the spell of her boyfriend's attacker.

As the Death Eater rolled down the outside stairs, Draco smiled at her,saying, "Thanks for that!"

She gave him a smile of her own, "Any time!" Then she moved on to fight off their other attackers.

The battle had only been going on for a few hours, but for all the people in the midst of it, it seemed to be longer.

As she fired spell after spell, back-to-back with Draco, she caught some flashes of the students and professors fighting around her.

Neville and Luna were using the same back-to-back strategy as her and Draco and were casting spell after spell at the Death Eaters surrounding them. Two out of three were down already and she was sure it wouldn't be long until the third one would fall down unconscious as well.

Hermione shifted her vision and could see that Ron, Harry, Seamus and Dean were casting the Patronus Charm in order to ward off a group of Dementors. She could just see the Jack Russell Terrier, stag, fox and moose chasing after the horrible cloaked creatures before she heard someone yelling, "Stupefy!"

In a matter of seconds a Death Eater fell down next to her and Draco, followed by Fred, George, Katie and Angelina running past them while chasing down another one.

More and more shouting, screaming and running sounds filled up the viaduct courtyard, occasionally replaced by the loud 'thud' of bodies falling on the cold stones.

Then the ground started to shake and as Hermione looked up, she could see some new attackers from the enemy lines joining the battle.

She could feel the slightest tremble go through her body and Draco's as twenty- foot giants stomped in the courtyard, destroying anything with their clubs. Fifteen people immediately gathered around each giant's feet, trying to bring it down to the ground by shooting strong cords out of their wands. Some of them even cast fire spells, trying to wound them.

One giant swung his club and ten people fell down with an enormous blow.

Suddenly the entire courtyard caught fire and they were surrounded with flames. Hermione could feel the heat of them on her skin, becoming warmer and warmer as they spread to where Draco and herself were fighting.

"GET INSIDE! Take cover! TAKE COVER!" Professor McGonagall's voice sounded loud over the entire courtyard and they did as they were bidden. Hermione and Draco ran inside stupefying two more Death Eaters on their way.

Once inside the Entrance Hall, Hermione looked frantically around, searching for her friends.

She could see the Weasley twins, Katie and Angelina taking a moment to catch their breath. Neville and Luna stood by them, the last one examining a cut in Neville's leg and healing it.

Right when the bewitched suits of armour marched outside to protect the castle, Harry, Ron, Seamus and Dean ran inside; panting heavily.

All of them braced themselves for a new attack, standing close together and wands at the ready.

But Voldermort's voice rang loud and clear through the castle, saying, "I call an armistice... I'll give you one hour and one hour only. Dispose of your dead with dignity and treat your injured."

With wide eyes, they put their wands down and stared at each other. A few seconds later, the shock of this declaration had left Hermione's body and she found her voice again. "Are all of you all right?"

All of them nodded, and relief swept over her. She couldn't help but give them a weak smile.

Draco turned around and looked in the direction of the Great Hall, swallowing. Hermione followed his gaze and suppressed a gasp at seeing people carrying the bodies of the dead inside it.

George swallowed, "Shall we see if they can use our help?"

They nodded and made a beeline to the Great Hall, their hearts becoming heavier and heavier with every step they took.

* * *

><p>Once there all of them were speechless at the sight before them. The bodies of many students were scattered across the floor of the Great Hall, all lying on stretchers. Some of them weren't breathing any more and others were terribly wounded. People were placing sheets over the ones that had definitely passed away.<p>

Hermione could just see them cover the bodies of Tonks and Lupin. They were lying next to one another, hands touching. This sight struck her hard and tears appeared in her eyes.

A bit further away, two students were carrying another fallen victim. They immediately recognised his small frame as Colin Creevey. She remembered him in his first year; constantly taking pictures of Harry and having a merry personality.

Next to this she could see the still, small shapes of first years underneath their coverings. She had seen this sight before... it was almost the same as last school year, only the dead were more in number now than the survivors. She felt Draco's fingers close around her hand and returned the gesture with a squeeze.

With bleeding hearts all of them tried to make themselves useful by helping the others. No matter how hard it was, it had to be done.

In the blur of helping the ones that survived and covering even more bodies, Hermione vaguely noticed that Harry couldn't be seen anywhere and wondered where he was.

* * *

><p>At seeing the gigantic shape of Hagrid, carrying the lifeless form of Harry in his big arms, Hermione's heart sank. Tears filled her eyes and in a moment of despair, she called out Harry's name. While she tried to make her way to Hagrid, Draco took her arm and stopped her, "No, Hermione! You can't! He'll kill you if you go near them!"<p>

"No! I have to get to Harry!"

Draco turned her around and with tears in his own grey eyes he shook his head, "No...Hermione... I don't think you can do..." But he swallowed in the rest of his sentence.

Hermione however knew what Draco had been about to say and at realising the possible hard truth, she threw herself in his arms. He put his arms around her waist and hugged her tightly. All around her students and professors let out loud gasps and cries of shock and sorrow.

"SILENCE!" called Lord Voldemort. "It's over! Lay him down at my feet Hagrid, it's the place where he belongs."

Voldemort raised his arms, grinning like a maniac, "Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived, is dead! He fled from me in the Forest, trying to save his own neck."

"That's a lie! Harry would never do something like that!" Ron yelled.

Voldemorts eyes focussed on Ron; a fleeting, twisted smile crossing his face, "Then you didn't know him at all... for I speak the truth. He wanted to run away, not caring for your lives!"

Right at that moment, Neville (in a fit of anger) ran away from his side of the battlefield and straight towards Voldemort's army.

Immediately a flash of red light was fired at Neville and he fell down. Voldemort laughed and asked one of his Death Eaters who he was.

At hearing the name the Dark Lord smiled, "So Neville, you have a lot of courage. I do believe you would make an excellent addition to my army of Death Eaters. What do you say? Would you like to join us?"

Neville stood up again and Luna ran towards him and took his hand in hers. This seemingly gave him even more courage. He glared at Lord Voldemort and said, "I would never join you!"

Voldemort's red eyes narrowed, "Very well... then you are of no use to me. Nagini! Kill them off!"

While the snake was preparing for the attack, Hermione could hear a crash from behind her. She turned around and saw something flying through one of the windows of Hogwarts. It flew right over them in the courtyard and fell down at Neville's feet.

Right before Nagini sprang towards Luna and Neville, the last one pulled something from the hat. Hermione could see it glistering in the moonlight and saw it reflecting light off big red rubies.

Neville lifted the sword of Godric Gryffindor and slashed off Nagini's head with one swing.

Voldemort had a look of shock written all over his snake-like pale face, his mouth hanging open in a silent scream.

This rather heroic act of Neville rekindle a new kind of fire within the others' hearts. They were now more determined than ever to win this battle.

When Voldemort called for his army to attack once again, the students and teachers gave all they had and the sounds of battle screams, people falling down and spells being fired could be heard again within the courtyard.

As Hermione, Draco and her friends were fighting side by side again (duelling a few Death Eaters) her ears picked up other sounds.

She looked up and saw dozens of Hippogriffs attacking the giants. They were pecking their big head with their strong beaks and scratching them with their enormous, sharp claws.

From the other side of the courtyard the Centaurs were galloping towards them, throwing spears and firing arrows at the Death Eaters and Acromantula's.

Even House- elves jumped through the giant oak doors; armed with knives, forks and cleavers.

It was one of the most wonderful cooperations between wizards, witches and magical creatures Hermione had ever seen.

All of them fought with every last strength they had and slowly but surely, Voldemort's army was being driven back.

Eventually, when Harry had been able to vanquish Voldemort for good, they had found the light again after one of the darkest times in the history of Hogwarts and the wizarding world.

* * *

><p>An hour later, when the sun was rising in the east, every last surviving person and magical creature was present in the Great Hall.<p>

It was dead quiet.

Some people were trying to drink some offered coffee and tea while others silently cried while paying their respects to the deceased.

Hermione and Draco were standing near the Weasley family. Tears were streaming down her face at seeing the lifeless form of Fred Weasley, laying on the ground.

Percy was holding Fred's stone-cold hand and George laid his own hand on the top of his twin brother's head.

Mister Weasley was holding Misses Weasley in his arms, the last one saying, "No... Not Fred... No..."

All of a sudden Fred's eyes flew open and all of them jumped a few feet in the air.

With a grin plastered on his face he regarded them, "What's all the crying about? Wow, even you Malfoy? I'm touched."

All of them were still in a state of shock. Ron said to Harry, "Is it a zombie?"

"What! I'm not some stinking decaying zombie! I'm alive!"

George felt his brother pulse and smiled, "It's true! He's still alive!"

Right then Misses Weasley broke through the others, puffing herself up in a moment of anger, "HOW DARE YOU! DO YOU THINK FAKING YOU'RE OWN DEAD IS SUPPOSED TO FUNNY! HOW DARE YOU!"

But then she threw herself on her son, tears still rolling down her cheeks; but they seemed to come from a source of happiness rather than sadness now.

Fred shrugged, "Well, I always wondered how people would react on my funeral."

At that everyone laughed and Draco pulled Hermione closer to his side, kissing the top of her head.

A week later, all of the survivors had helped with cleaning up the terrible debris at Hogwarts. The professors had decided to magically build the destroyed parts of Hogwarts again over the summer.

Hermione and her friends were standing near the Great Lake, seeing the remnants of the castle from afar.

As she looked around her circle of friends, all smiling and talking, she couldn't be more grateful for the fact that her friends had survived. She could feel a smile spreading over her face and Draco noticed it too.

He smiled at her and whispered in her ear, "Ready for a better future?"

Hermione nodded instantly, "You have no idea and it better be a future with you in it! No more sudden departures!"

He pulled her in his arms and kissed her. When the kiss had been broken, their heads were still resting against each other.

Draco shook his head, "Oh no... I'm not going anywhere."

She kissed him again, more passionately this time, and knew that a brighter future for them and their friends was lurking just behind the distant bend of the Black Lake.


	17. Epilogue

**AN: Hello everyone!****  
><strong>

**So, this is the last chapter of "A Race for Love". **

**I would also like to say that this may be the last chapter I'll ever post on Fanfiction again. I might come back somewhere in the future, but it would be a while before that happens.**

**I'm still writing fanfics, but those can only be found on my Wattpad account under the author name of WisteriaMoon.**

**Anyway, I would like to say a final thank you to everyone who read any of my stories and for their suppor!**

* * *

><p><span><strong>Epilogue<strong>

_**Seven years later**_

_Draco turned the key and entered the nicely decorated Victorian house._

"_Hello! I'm home!"_

_He frowned when he didn't hear any response, but still walked towards the kitchen._

_Draco hung up the keys and his eyes fell on a moving photograph on the windowsill._

_The younger faces of him, Hermione, Fred, George, Harry, Ginny, Ron, Neville and Luna were looking straight at him; all smiling and waving._

_He chuckled and remembered when the photograph had been taken. The restored castle of Hogwarts was clearly visible in the background._

_Draco walked to the kitchen table and went through the mail of that day. An invitation for George and Katie Bell's wedding was laying on top of the rest, together with three letters of Neville, Ron and Harry._

_He moved from the kitchen to the living room, saying, "I have something wonderful here for a special someone."_

_As went through the doorway he stopped and sighed at the wonderful sight in front of him._

_Hermione was sitting in a rocking chair with toddler Scorpius sitting in her lap. Their son's head was resting on his mother's chest and both of them were sleeping peacefully in the light of the late-afternoon sun, shining through the large window behind them._

_His wife stirred in her sleep and gently rubbed her round belly._

_Draco quietly made his way to his family and gently woke his wife by kissing her forehead._

_Hermione opened her eyes and a smile spread over her face, "You're home. How was your father doing?"_

_He smiled, "Well, he still remembered my name and yours. He also asked how Scorpius was doing."_

_She was still smiling, "That's wonderful, Draco!"_

_He nodded, "Yes, it's a real miracle. My mum even gave me this present for Scorpius... It's a toy broomstick. She also asked if you're close to labour again. I'm telling you, she can't wait to meet her next grandchild. She even questioned me if it would be a boy or a girl!"_

_They laughed and Hermione took his hand, "Well, I couldn't keep my curiosity any longer at the hospital today... so I asked the gynaecologist about it."_

_Draco's eyes lightened up, "And?"_

_She smiled, "It's going to be a girl!"_

_He was beyond himself with happiness at hearing this news, so he threw his arms around her, saying, "Oh, that's wonderful, Hermione!"_

_Right then Scorpius stirred awake and at seeing his father, he immediately put up his little arms, saying, "Daddy! Daddy home!" _

"_Hey there little champion! Grandma gave me a present for you!"_

"_Yay! Scorpius wants present! Where present?" _

"_Here it is!"_

_While their son was opening his present, or at least trying to, Hermione suddenly took his hand, "Quick, Draco!"_

_She placed his hand against her belly and a second later, he could feel a definite kick. _

_At feeling the kick of his baby girl, hearing Scorpius tearing off the wrapping paper and seeing Hermione looking at him with all her love for him written in her eyes, he felt complete._

_Finally, after all their hardships, he could finally conclude that all was well._

_* The End *_


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